


StartedXThere, EndedXUp Here

by orphan_account



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-03
Updated: 2014-06-10
Packaged: 2018-01-21 18:50:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 48,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1560473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Killua was the heir to the Zoldyck conglomerate, but when he is disowned by his family and dropped off at an orphanage. He ends up getting taken in by two people who completely turn around his way of thinking, and his faith in people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Started ThereXBeginningXZoldycks

**Author's Note:**

> Dumb rambling, story starts lower down: This story was actually supposed to be a small fluff one-shot with an affectionate Killua that was supposed to help me de-rust my writing after a few years of not writing anymore. Then I ended up going through books on my bookshelf as references on writing styles, and as I learned more I ended up wanting to do more.
> 
> Next thing I know I'm working on this for days at a time during my free time, and have spent probably a good month on it revising and coming up with ideas. Then it evolved from a small one-shot to some..monster.
> 
> I was going to keep it a one-shot, but it's gotten so big that I decided to break it up into chapters to make it easier for anyone who actually decides to read this. It starts out pretty slow, but the "chapters" start getting longer as it goes, and will consist of a scene and a flashback.
> 
> Truth be told, at the beginning I didn't even plan to post this anywhere, but...
> 
> I guess things change.
> 
> Anyways, I rambled enough.
> 
> This is an AU: Following a day in the modern life of Gon and Killua (No specific year) with flashbacks to show their development together. The present time is a little more Gon-centric and the flashbacks are more Killua-centric.
> 
> Rated T for: Pretty light cussing, slight sexual themes (No smut scenes), and some violence.
> 
> Pairings: Slow starting Killua and Gon
> 
> This is not beta read. If you see a mistake feel free to PM me or tell me in a note.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter. I would love to though.

"Killuaaaa! Get UP!" Gon's voice echoed throughout the house.  


* * *

 

_**Age 3-5** _

  
Killua had been an orphan ever since his family disowned him, leaving him at an orphanage at the age of 5. They had always abused him in some of the worst ways possible for the sake of 'raising him' to be the successor of his father, who is the owner of the Zoldyck conglomerate.  
  
He had it hammered into his head to not speak unless spoken to, and not unless deemed necessary by his mother so that he could sit in on his Father's meetings without worry of interrupting them.  
  
Any other lessons, including stealth training to be able to move around unseen in public and hide from enemies of their family, were taught to him by his older brother Illumi. He had been authorized to beat young Killua whenever he would voice any type of opinion of his own or show any type of child-like qualities.  
  
At the age of 5 when young Killua finally got fed up enough, he had a particularly bad outburst in which he informed his older brother of how he didn't care about his family's business, the clients, and especially the members of his family, wishing he was never born into the family.  
  
So his older brother informed their parents of this rather than wasting the time and energy beating him once more, and they granted his wish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, it starts out slow and the chapters will start getting longer as it goes. This wasn't built to be made of chapters at first, so I apologize for all the very short beginning chapters.


	2. Five YearsXOrphanageXTorture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise the chapters will get longer as we go. I just didn't expect to make this into chapters when I started out.

Gon's feet thundered through the house and up the stairs, heading towards Killua's and his room. He wasn't mad, but he wasn't looking forward to missing the bus a second time in a row.

He opened the door and poked his head in to see Killua in a disheveled mess.

* * *

 

_**Age 5-10** _

_Although he no longer had to deal with his family, their 'training' wouldn't just leave him as suddenly as he left them._

_Even surrounded by other kids his age and finally free, he was still afraid to let his voice be heard by anyone. If anyone was ever actually lucky enough to get him to speak, it was always so quietly they had to ask him to speak up or repeat what he had said._

_Being such a quiet and passive child unfortunately earned him the privilege of becoming the most picked on in the institution, as most of the older children quickly learned that no matter what they did to young Killua, he was never very likely to inform anyone else of what was happening._

_He spent roughly 5 years in the orphanage, watching kids come and go as he stayed right where he was. Potential adopters had always been drawn to him at first sight, seeing his fluffy silver hair and angelic blue eyes. Killua on the other hand would most times be scared of strangers and would end up running away from anyone who would want to adopt him believing they were only going to end up hurting him like everyone else._

_Some teachers and adults who volunteered at the orphanage had taken a liking to him, but sadly were not actually looking to adopt any children. Though he ended up slowly but steadily making friends with them._

_However one day a particular woman had come in to volunteer, and ended up bringing her nephew to help as well._


	3. A Hot MessXAt First SightXStrange Boy

Gon stared at Killua, trying hard not to laugh at the sight.

He had poked his head through the door expecting to see Killua lying in bed asleep. Instead he found Killua lying with his upper body on the floor, his lower body still hanging onto the edge of the bed. His shirt fallen enough to show everything his abdomen had to offer.

His pillow had fallen down on top of the back of his head with their dog, a great dane named Mike with a spiked collar, lying his head on it.

The icing on the cake was where Killua had slid halfway off the bed, but not all of his pants followed suit and Gon could make out the upper part of his boxers hanging out.

Gon took out his new phone that Mito had gotten him recently and took a picture of the scene.

* * *

 

_**Age 10** _

_Killua was sitting in the middle of the bottom bunk of his bunk bed, hugging his knees to his chest and resting his chin on them._

_Today was another volunteer day, except none of the regular volunteers that he liked to hang out with had come this time around. So he resolved to hide away from everything that's happening so as to not be in the way._

_He heard footsteps coming from down the hallway towards his room, assuming it was one of his roommates. The volunteers weren't allowed in the dormitory part of the orphanage._

_A boy who looked about his age walked past the slightly open door only sparing a glance as he went by, but then ended up walking backwards and poking his head in to look at the boy on the bed._

_Killua raised his eyebrow in a questioning manner, as he had never seen this boy around the orphanage before._

_They stared at each other for what seemed like the longest time, until the spiky-haired child smiled widely and came into the room, stopping at the edge of the bed. Killua continued to watch the smiling spiky-haired boy, wondering why he was smiling like an idiot._

_Then the boy climbed onto the bed and sat on his knees in front of Killua. He jabbed his hand out in front of the silver-haired boy, exclaiming to him,_ "Hi! My name is Gon!"


	4. Rude AwakeningXTrust IssuesXIllumi's Teachings

Gon walked over to the mess that was his best friend, bending down to poke him in the back.

_**WHAM!** _

Gon fell on his bottom holding his nose tightly from the kick he just received.

 _"Mm I forgot what happens when I sneak up on him..."_ Gon thought to himself, hoping that his nose wouldn't start bleeding.

He had learned the hard way what happens when you enter Killua's personal space unannounced and unseen.

Gon heard a small gasp and looked over at the other, seeing his eyes widened considerably.

"Oh, Killua. I'm fine," Gon told him, waving his hands frantically in front of himself. Killua made a grab for his face to hold him still and inspected his nose. "It was my fault. Really though, it's alright," Gon assured him.

Killua dropped his hands from the other's face and sighed, muttering an 'Idiot..don't do that...' under his breath. "Sorry."

"Really Killua, it's alright! Now come on, you overslept again. Aunt Mito is going to be really mad if we ask for another ride to school..."

That made the other quickly run to the bathroom for his shower. Gon smiled at this and pushed himself up off the floor, making his way downstairs to pack up Killua's school supplies for him.

"Gon, why are you still here?"

* * *

  _ **Age 10**_

 

_Killua flinched away from the boy's offered hand. He looked up slowly when nothing happened, seeing confusion written all over the boy's face and his head cocked to the side._

_The boy named Gon began retracted his hand, inspecting it for anything wrong._ "Is there something on my hand?"

_This gave Killua some space to calm down, though he was still wary of this person._

_Gon's smile faded slightly, as he moved closer to the silver-haired boy._ "You aren't hurt are you?"

_He tried to get closer to him as the frightened boy kept backing away until he was pressed up against the wall, wishing he could just turn invisible. Gon finally caught up to him and saw him breathing raggedly at this point, causing the spiky-haired boy's happiness to dissolve completely._

"Gon! What are you doing to him?!" _A woman with short hair shouted as she ran in, grabbing the boy named Gon by the shoulders and turning him around to look at her._

"But Aunt Mito! I just wanted to make a new friend!" _Gon attempted to explain._ "I think something is wrong with him."

_This caused the woman named Mito to look over at the shaking child against the wall._

"Oh..." _Mito said, immediately forgetting about the boy in her grip._

_She went to Killua, picking him up and holding him up with her hands under his arms to look him over. This didn't bode well with the silver-haired boy, causing him to internally snap as the flashbacks of being held just like this by his older brother Illumi flooded his mind._

**_"_ _You'll be nothing but a figurehead._ _"_ **

_Images of those lifeless voids he called eyes scanning him._

**_"_ _You'll be the poster-child for the family in the future, that is all._ _"_ **

_It was always a broken finger after the next line, to let him know it was true._

**_"_ _You're worth nothing, and will never be worth anything more than a pretty face._ _"_ **

_He leaned his head forward slightly, causing his bangs to hide his face for some short of shield, any kind at all. He didn't like these two invading his space so much. It was torturous._

_She could feel the boy shaking and breathing hard as he tried desperately to pry himself away from her suddenly, kicking and punching the air in front of himself. Killua was losing himself to the memories now, he felt he had to get out of here, run as far and fast as he can and-_

"Stop that this instant!" _Mito shouted at him, causing him to cease his struggling. She stared into his wide eyes scoldingly, before she noticed he was almost at hyperventilation now._

_She hugged him then, and he buried his head into her shoulder letting out all the pent-up sadness he had tried hard to hide over the years._

_He didn't even know why he was sobbing into her shirt. But he felt..safe for some reason. All the while Gon watched with interest what was unfolding before him._

"Gon, go get one of the staff. I'd like to have a talk with them," _Mito ordered him, holding onto Killua tightly._


	5. Mito AwakensXFeeling SafeXSaviors

Gon turned quickly at the sound of her voice. "Oh, I was just finishing packing up for Killua and I. Killua should be getting out of the shower soon. Sorry for waking you, Aunt Mito."

Mito rubbed her eyes and yawned, indicating how sleepy she still was. "I hope you two aren't going to need a ride and make me late for work. Again."

"Of course not. We'll run if we have to," Gon assured her. "It would be good exercise anyways."

Mito shuffled away to the kitchen mumbling," As if you two don't work out and exercise enough..."

Gon chuckled lightly and finished packing Killua's bag before starting to pack his own.

* * *

 

_**Age 10** _

"Ma'am, you and your nephew can't be back here," _a staff member of the orphanage came into the room, spotting the now quietly sobbing Killua being held by Mito._ "Oh dear, what happened Killua?"

"I know, and I apologize for breaking that rule. My nephew can be a little too adventurous for his own good sometimes, and he must have come back here without my knowing when I wasn't looking," _she explained, glaring at Gon._ "I came back here when I didn't see him in any of the rooms we were allowed to be in, and when I found him he was with this poor boy who was frightened beyond belief of I don't know what. I sent my nephew to find a staff member and bring them here. But now I would like to question why on earth this child would be permitted to be all by himself when it seems as though he is in no condition to be left alone."

_Killua pulled his head back from the red-headed woman's shoulder, finally taking a chance to get a good look at this woman who seemed concerned for him. Mito took in his features as well, looking past his soaked face and puffy eyes to see his angelic blue irises and silvery hair._

_The staff member told Mito of how they hired a psychiatrist when they noticed Killua's strange behavior during his first few weeks at the orphanage, and how it had been explained that he had a traumatically violent time before he was dropped off at the orphanage. He was not able to tell exactly what happened other than knowing the child had to have been tortured physically, mentally and emotionally._

"We believe some of the other children have bullied him over the years as well. However he speaks so rarely and tries so hard to hide away from everyone that no matter how hard we try we can't get him to tell us if someone is or even isn't bullying him, let alone who is doing it," _the staff member continued to explain._ "So he has a lot of trouble being around other people, seven people he has known for a long time."

"I see..." _Mito nodded._

_Looking back at Killua she noticed him watching Gon. She looked over at Gon to find him rummaging through some shelves, curiosity ever present._

"Would you like to go play with him for a while? He's very nice and I promise he won't hurt you," _Mito tried to assure the child in her arms._

_His head snapped back at her, showing skepticism. After a minute of careful consideration, Killua nodded his head slowly. She set him down and he ran over to the other boy, reaching out slowly for his shoulder._

_Gon's head snapped up at feeling someone close by, and Killua's hand shot back. The spiky-haired boy grinned before asking,_ "Hey, you want to play? I'm bored."

_Killua looked him over before nodding slowly, then was promptly dragged away by a hand around his wrist._

_Mito took a step forward with her hand reaching out to stop her nephew from scaring the other again, but was too late as they were already out of sight. She turned with a sigh to the staff member still in the room with her._

"Is he still up for adoption?"


	6. Heading OutXSilly BoyXWelcome Home

Gon turned around at the sound of footsteps on the stairs and saw Killua drying his hair with a towel on the way down. "I packed your bag for you, Killua. You can go on ahead and I'll meet you there."

The other teen tossed his towel in the hamper next to the washer and dryer. Once he had his backpack in hand he slung it over his shoulder and sat on the table. "Nah, I don't want to get on that loud and annoying bus unless you're suffering with me."

Gon smiled at this while he continued to pack his things. His friend did often hate being around people other than Mito, Granny and himself.

"Killua, get off the table or you're grounded. We eat there," Mito scolded him as she shuffled by, coffee cup in hand.

He hopped off immediately, knowing that a grumpy Mito is harsh at punishments. "Yes ma'am," he mock saluted as if he were in the military, then stuck his tongue out when she turned the corner into a hallway.

Gon tried hard not to laugh at his friend's antics, but couldn't help himself when he heard a faint "Now you're grounded."

Killua spluttered as he dropped his backpack and ran after her to make amends in the hopes of having his punishment retracted. "Mito wait!"

"Killua, we don't have time! Come on!" Gon's warning made the silver-haired teenager stop halfway across the room and look frantically between him and the hallway.

 _"Today sucks already,"_ Killua thought before heading back to grab his backpack, scooping up his skateboard and following the other out the door.

* * *

 

_**Age 10** _

"Aunt Mito, you said I couldn't bring anything home. So how come you got to bring a whole _person_ with us?" _Gon asked as he climbed into the backseat of the car._

_He looked over at Killua who was fumbling with his seat belt, seemingly uncomfortable with it. He was actually glad the other was coming with them. What he upset about was that Mito told him he couldn't do something and then turned around and did it herself. He was not mad, but he was quite displeased that Mito got to break the rules and he did not._

"Because I'm a terrible person whose only purpose is to make you unhappy, Gon," _Mito answered sarcastically after a sigh._

 _She checked the rear view mirror and saw Killua looking at her with bug eyes, obviously worried about that comment. She watched Gon poke him in the shoulder to gain his attention._ "She wasn't being serious."

_That seemed to calm Killua down, and Mito put the car into reverse, pulling out of her parking spot to leave._

_When the car pulled up to their house, Gon was the first one out of the car before it was even fully parked, running full speed to the house._

_Killua watched the other boy run as fast as his legs would take him before undoing his seat belt and opening his door. When he stepped out Mito was there waiting for him. She took his hand and walked him up to the front door, opening it for him and ushering him in before telling him..._

"Welcome home, Killua."


	7. The Storm BeginsXFirst WordXTo Our Room

When the spiky-haired teen came up to the bus stop, he saw no trace of his best friend. Then he heard the sound of a skateboarding rolling towards him and saw Killua skate a circle around him before hopping off next to the other teen.

Gon smiled at his friend before he felt something wet hit the tip of his nose. He noticed Killua looking up to the sky, and looked as well. Grey clouds began to swim around the atmosphere, and little droplets had begun to fall.

Others had already pulled out their umbrellas, indicating that most were prepared for this situation. Gon and Killua, however, were not.

"Think it'll last long?" Gon asked, and was answered by a loud crack of thunder.

Killua stared at the clouds a little longer, seemingly in thought. "With as slow as they're moving, probably all day long."

The spiky-haired teen sighed. Seeing the bus pull up, he grabbed his friend's hand and dragged him to the bus.

* * *

 

_**Age 10** _

"Hey Killua! Follow me and I'll show you our room!" _Gon said as he ran by._

_Seeing Killua leaning against a counter in the kitchen, he stopped and looked back._

"Oh, um, are you hungry?" _Gon asked, proceeding into the kitchen when he saw Killua nod fervently._ "Ah...is there anything specific you like to eat?"

_Killua rubbed one arm nervously and looked around, seeming be against the idea of answering, but Gon waited patiently. The silver-haired boy started blushing because of the other staring at him for so long and breathed deeply to calm himself. He had to remind himself that this boy wasn't going to hurt him, or at least not yet it seemed._

"...Ch-chocolate?" _Killua asked timidly, causing Gon's smile to widen because of him finally speaking._

"Mmm...Aunt Mito doesn't like it when people eat sweets before lunch or dinner..." _Gon answered thoughtfully, his index finger on his chin._ "...But I won't tell if you won't this one time. Follow me to our room and I'll get you some."

_Killua grinned at this. They headed out of the kitchen and ran for the stairs, passing Mito on the way._

"Where are you two going?" _Mito asked as they passed her by._

"I'm going to go show Killua our room."


	8. Seating ArrangementsXChocolateXSharing Is Caring

The bus was packed this morning, it seemed like the students who usually got their own ride to school couldn't have it done this morning, leaving only one seat left right next to the bus monitor.

Gon and Killua both stood in the aisle next to the seat, glaring at each other and waiting for the other to take the seat before the bus would drive off.

"Killua, take the seat," Gon commanded again, his arms crossed in front of his chest and his gaze steeled.

Killua shook his head and shoved his index finger towards the seat while glaring at Gon, giving his silent command for the spiky-haired teen to take the seat instead for the third time.

"No Killua! I took the window seat yesterday, so it's your turn today anyways. The last seat is a window seat, so it's yours this time!"

Gon fumed a little when Killua turned his head and stuck his nose in the air as if the very thought of sitting there was beneath him. He cocked his head to the side when Killua suddenly lit up with a cat-like grin, pointing towards the seat less violently this time.

"You have an idea?" Gon questioned skeptically.

He reluctantly went towards the seat when the pale-skinned teen nodded. Killua was definitely no stranger to tricking the other teen so he could get what he wanted. Though Gon trusted him none the less.

Gon sat down and began taking off his backpack when he felt his legs suddenly being pushed apart. He looked down curiously and saw Killua settling in on the floor in front of him, sitting cross-legged with his backpack in his lap.

Killua threw his hand up in the air, clamping it open and shut. When the other got the clue, he handed the other backpack over. Killua put it against the wall of the bus with his other backpack to lean against them.

With his side resting on the backpacks so they wouldn't jostle around the bus, Killua laid his head back into his friend's lap and closed his eyes to succumb to sleep.

* * *

 

_**Age 10** _

_Gon lead Killua up the stairs and to their now shared room,_

_Gon turned around once he and Killua entered the room and threw his arms out wide for emphasis._ "Everything in this room is ours, meaning yours too now!" _He went to crawl under the bed to reach for something._

_Killua walked in further, slowly, afraid of touching something he isn't supposed to. Spiky hair bounced as Gon poked his head back out from under the bed, holding a small box._

_He then held the box up from the other side of the room, an idea popping into his head, and produced a grin that older folks would see as wrong on such a young child._

"Kiii-lluuu-aaa...I got chocolate in this box," _the spiky-haired child called softly so as to not let Mito hear him._ "Want it?"

_Killua's head perked up quickly, and he stared at the box, his eyes glinting with desire. He began to bite on his bottom lip, looking to be in thought between tackling Gon for the box or staying rooted in place, shifting from one leg to the other._

_Gon began to shake the box left and right like a see-saw to appease his new friend even more, only serving to make Killua bite his bottom lip even harder and his eyes clenching closed._

_Gon frowned at not getting the reaction he wanted, expecting Killua to come rushing over and open up some at the mention of something he liked._

"Do you not want-"

_He was cut off mid-sentence by the other tackling him to the ground, landing on his back with a hard thud._

"Killua! I didn't mean _attack_ me!" _Gon hollered at the boy tearing the box out of his hands. When the box was securely in the silver-haired boy's hands, he tore it open and dumped the contents of it into his mouth. He looked up at the boy who sat atop him._ "You can have all of em, by the way."

_Killua had a look of ecstasy on his face for a while before he looked down at the boy under him. Looking through the box, he pulled out two chocolate balls and handed them to the other._

"You don't have to. Really, you can have all of them." _Killua only shoved the chocolate forward again, hitting the other boy's chest this time with a stern look._ "So you want them, but you want me to have them more?" _Gon questioned, grinning because he already knew the answer._

"Not mine..ours," _Killua answered, looking to the side in embarrassment at saying such a thing._

_The other boy to positively beamed with the excitement of getting this boy to speak twice in less than an hour. Even to say something pretty meaningful as well._

"Gon! Killua! Go wash up before dinner is ready," _Mito called from downstairs._


	9. Sleeping ArrangementsXAffectionXConfirmation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Working on revising chapter 18 after I get 17 uploaded, then I'll be finished with revising and can start moving forward again with chapter 19. So anyone who even bothered getting this far, hope you enjoy.

Gon rested his chin on his fist as he stared out the window, his other hand dipped in Killua's hair. He gave a quick glance to his sleeping friend and swore if the teen was awake enough he would be purring.

Killua had always been so afraid of anyone even coming near him, but 5 years spent budding in such a loving atmosphere caused him to grow affectionate with his three housemates. Though he seemed more close to Gon than anyone.

Gon never minded however. In fact he enjoyed it the majority of the time, as long as people didn't make fun of them. That usually made him mad, because it made Killua upset when people did.

Killua hasn't been impartial to throwing punches these days when pushed far enough, however.

Although he never liked being complimented or comments about how great it was to be with him and the like, he said it embarrassed him. But Gon thought it was funny whenever the other teen got flustered about those things, cute even.

Especially when you make whatever he's drinking come flying out of his nose by saying something of the like.

"Normally sitting on the bus like that wouldn't be allowed," the spiky-haired teen heard from beside him, looking over to see the bus monitor looking up from her not so innocent magazine. "But I guess I'll allow it this time."

"Ah..um..thanks, Ms. Krueger." He knew she was getting a kick out of this. "But shouldn't you be watching the bus?"

"They'll be fine for a while. Besides, I don't want to miss the show right here..."

Gon sighed with a slight smile. She was almost as bad as that Hisoka person who lived in the neighborhood. "Yeah, I thought you'd say something like that."

He looked back down at Killua, not realizing that he had begun absentmindedly scratching at his friend's head, seeing his mouth hanging open some. Gon blushed a little, jerking his head over to stare out the window once more and stopping his scratching. That earned him a quiet whine in protest from his half asleep friend.

"Shut up, Ms. Krueger," Gon ordered of her, not even looking over to see her snickering.

He resumed his scratching. Being rewarded with a pleased sound from the head on his lap only caused his blush to deepen. Killua would have wanted to crawl under a rock and die if he knew what was happening.

"Oh-"

"Please!" Gon interrupted in a plea for silence from the woman.

He looked back down at his now sleeping friend, hoping he didn't wake up abruptly like this morning. The spiky-haired teen didn't know if he could take two of those surprise hits in the same morning.

* * *

 

_**Age 10** _

_Mito taught Killua about praying before dinner at the table when he gave a confused look at the other three bowing their heads suddenly, and dinner continued regularly for Gon, Mito and Granny. Gon tried to get Killua to speak to Granny at least once, swearing he had gotten Killua to speak twice earlier as Mito looked at him skeptically._

_After dinner was finished Gon took his new friend back to his room, getting ready for bed as Killua watched from his position sitting on the edge of the bed. When Gon finished changing into his pajamas he looked over at the pale skinned boy sitting on the bed watching him._

"Oh, ah...you don't have any clothes to sleep in, huh?" _Gon asked the other boy._

 _Seeing his head shake, the boy dug through his dresser to look for an extra set. Upon finding some, he tossed them into Killua's face._ "Those can be yours now."

_Killua peeled them off his face and eyed them warily. He was no stranger to people putting things in his clothes before handing them over. He looked at the unfaltering grin on Gon's face and decided against his natural instincts to trust the other boy then. It wasn't like he gave him any reason to distrust him yet._

_After changing his clothes, the silver-haired boy hopped off the bed and curled up on the floor._

"That won't do, Killua. You sleep up here with me."

_Gon crawled into bed and patted the spot next to himself. Killua's head poked up over the edge of the bed and looked at the other boy as if he grew another head._

_"_ Come on, there's plenty of room! Or if you want the bed to yourself, I'll sleep on the floor instead, _" he tried to compromise._

_Killua reluctantly climbed into the bed, not wanting to have the other boy be on the floor._

_The pale-skinned boy laid himself on the other side of his friend, practically plastered against the wall, causing Gon to giggle some at the other's antics._

_"_ Killua, you're all smashed against the wall like a bug. You can sleep closer to me, it's not a problem, _" and upon hearing that Killua unglued himself from the wall and got comfortable next to his friend._

 _"_ Well, take as much cover as you need. Don't be afraid to wake me up if you need something, _" the spiky-haired boy informed him, yawning as he did._

_Killua kept awake and watched his friend sleep, feeling a little creepy for doing such a thing. He inched closer to his sleeping friend and reached out, then thought badly of the idea of hugging him._

_He just didn't want to wake up to find the other boy gone, as it seemed all of today had been one big dream. He just needed some kind of reminder that this was real._

_Because in the end, a friend was all he wanted._

_The next morning Mito woke up extra early to go check on them. She saw them asleep in a tangled mess of limbs, foreheads pressed together and breathing in sync._


	10. DaydreamingXBirthdayXEmbarrassment

Gon stared at all the passing buildings, hearing the occasional mumble from Killua in his sleep. Gon couldn't understand how the silver-haired boy could possibly sleep with all the yelling and talking going on either. But of course it was out of the question for Gon to wake him up without getting hit.

" _Maybe he just likes hitting me,_ " Gon thought to himself.

"Gon."

" _Or maybe he knows how to tune it out even in his sleep?_ " he continued to wonder.

"Gon."

" _Maybe he'd teach me how to tune it out too!_ " Gon thought on, getting excited at the prospect of learning a new trick.

Suddenly the spiky-haired teen was jolted out of his thoughts by two hands pinching and pulling at each of his cheeks.

"Ahh! Killua! That _hurts!_ " he exclaimed, grabbing at Killua's arms and trying to pull them away. When the silver-haired teen finally let go, Gon started rubbing his abused face. "Killuaaa, what was that for?" he asked, seeing the extremely annoyed face of his best friend tinted with a light blush.

"Why were you staring at me for the past 10 minutes?" the other teen questioned.

"Ehhh? I was staring at you?" Gon honestly did not remember staring at his friend. "I didn't even notice..."

"Whatever. Come on, we're here and class is going to start soon," Killua said, looking away as he got up.

* * *

 

 

_**Age 11** _

_It had been a year since Killua had moved in with Gon, and it was only on Gon's birthday that he had decided to speak his first full sentence since moving in._

"Happy birthday Gon! I went out and tried to find a good present...but...I couldn't find anything good that I had the money for..." _Killua had said, hanging his head in shame at the last part._

 _Gon only grinned brightly from ear to ear._ "Thats alright, you being here is already the best present ever! I don't care about anything else more than that!" _the spiky-haired boy exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air to express his happiness._

_Killua's head dipped down to hide his face behind his bangs, blushing at the exclamation._

"Eh? Whats wrong, Killua?" _he asked next, seeing Killua hide behind his bangs._ "Aunt Mito! Granny! I think Killua is sick!" _Gon yelled, pointing at his red-faced friend, only to have his finger smacked down by the other._

"I'm not sick! You're just..so..ugh! _Embarrassing_!" _the silver-haired boy shouted, stomping away to the stairs._

"Wait! Killua! What did I say?!" _Gon shouted after him, running to catch up._ " _Killuaaa!_ "

_Mito and Granny had watched the scene with quite amused looks._

_Later that night Gon was lying in bed, assaulting Killua with questions one after the other while the pale-skinned boy simply wanted to sleep. Even though he was only getting short, quick answers for the most part he could tell that Killua had been opening up to him more over the year. Which only pushed him to converse with the boy as much as he could._

"But Killua, you're really smart, so you have to know!" _Gon told the boy lying beside him._

_Killua heaved a deep sigh with a light blush tinting his cheeks pink. He silently thanked Mito for the 'lights off by 10' rule so that it was dark enough for Gon to hopefully not see his face._

_Although if Killua could see in the dark by now..._

"Gon, please, I just want to go to sleep. I don't know why birds have feathers, animals have fur and fish have scales." _Killua answered the same question for the third time._

_Gon nodded that time, and Killua rolled over to put his back to the other boy, closing his eyes and hearing Gon's breathing slow and soften. He was finally on the verge of a peaceful, bliss filled sleep. It was now within his grasp._

"What about dolphins? How come they don't have scales like other fish? I like dolphins better, though. What about you, Killua? Do you like dolphins too?" _Gon destroyed the silence with a myriad of questions._

 _Killua could have explained that a dolphin was a mammal, not a fish. But all he could think about was how much he wanted to tear his hair out, but thought badly of the idea of not being able to hide his face behind it. Plus it makes adults and girls give him_ _**candy** _ _._

_The hair is a necessity._

_"Maybe if I just ignore him and pretend to be asleep, he'll shut up and go to sleep..." Killua thought to himself, refusing to move an inch._

_Then he felt something prodding him in the back..._

_Poke._

_.._

_.._

_Poke._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_Poke._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_Poke._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_Poke._

" **Damn it Gon!** " _Killua roared, tackling the spiky-haired child out of bed._

"Killua _**NOOO**_!" _Gon screamed as he flew backwards, crashing into a nightstand._

"GON! KILLUA! Why are you both still awake?!" _Mito yelled as she barged into the room, turning on the lights._

_The lights flashing on blinded both Gon and Killua, whose eyes were so accustomed to the dark already. They attempted to shield their poor eyes from the onslaught of light with their hands._

"Aunt Mito!"

"Mito _please_!"

_Both boys rolled on the floor dramatically as if they had just had acid thrown on their faces._

"Oh both of you stop it. Now get in bed and go to sleep!" _she ordered them, before shutting the door._

_Both boys climbed back in bed and pulled the cover up to their shoulders, resuming their positions with Killua's back to Gon's face._

_Killua knew it was only a matter of time. Gon never really listened to anyone when they told him to go to sleep, no matter who-_

"Hey Killua, you know you have to start school with me next week, right?"

_The pale-skinned boy groaned while pulling the cover up over his head. He felt the covers being moved and already knew the other boy was following him under. He felt that familiar feeling of breathing on the back of his neck, so he turned around to face the spiky-haired child._

"Why can't you just go to sleep like normal people?" _Killua asked him._

 _He smelled the toothpaste on Gon's breath when the other boy huffed in frustration, pouting now._ "Why can't you just stay awake and be weird like me?"

 _Killua growled, low and feral, reminding the energetic boy of a territorial cat._ "Stay outside the cover and I'll stay inside so you don't get tempted to talk to me," _the silver-haired boy commanded, narrowing his eyes at the other._

_Gon was really starting to get on his nerves tonight._

"But I don't want you out of my sight, Killua..." _Gon told him, eyes wide and face sad._

_Killua blushed slightly and his eyes widened._

"...I like your face and hair being the last thing I see before I fall asleep! Especially your hair, it's so soft and fluffy," _Gon continued, reaching over to lose his hand in the silver head of hair, causing Killua to splutter._

_Killua's blush went deep red and he averted his eyes._

"O-okay! Fine! Just...g-gosh you're so _embarrassing_!"

_He grabbed the other boy's wrist and pulled it away from his hair. Gon laughed at his friend's flustered state, and finally closed his eyes to make an attempt at sleep._

"You're so fun. I'm really glad I found you and Aunt Mito brought you with us," _he confessed, giving a_ 'Good night' _before finally leaving the other boy alone._

_"I bet I'm more glad than you are about it, Gon," was Killua's final thought before succumbing to sleep._


	11. SkateboardXAttentionXFirst Day

"Killua, stop!" Gon yelled at the smirking boy rolling away backwards on his skateboard, hands in his shorts' pockets.

Many people were staring at and murmuring about Killua as he rolled around Gon like a bee around a flower, but this was nothing new. His silver hair and pale skin had always elicited rumors, gotten him looks of all kinds, and awarded him unwanted attention.

Although he generally didn't care, some days he just wanted to hide away from it all and would wear a hoodie or hat in an attempt at getting no one to notice his hair at least. It worked for the most part as long as he didn't draw attention to himself those days. But-

" **KILLUA!** " Gon screamed out loud enough for the entire schoolyard to turn their attention directly at him, though Gon never cared about what other people thought of him.

Then there was the problem of Gon always giving him away without really realizing what he was doing. However Killua believed that getting rid of Gon for even one day of peace was not worth it.

Gon stomped up to his stone-still friend under the doorway, and at that moment Killua was glad he didn't bother with trying to hide today. Any attempt at going unnoticed for the day would have just been completely and utterly shattered before the school day had even started.

When the spiky-haired teen finally caught up, he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at his best friend. Killua tried hard not to laugh at his friend's attempt at an angry expression, which more than usually turned out as cute rather than scary. It didn't help that the rain had downed the other's usually upright hair, either.

"Sorry Gon," Killua tried to apologize, but Gon wasn't hearing it as he bent down and snatched the skateboard out from under the pale-skinned teen and headed off toward the school.

Killua let out a sigh at this and jogged to catch up to his fuming friend.

"Alright so I'll admit skating those circles around you and almost making you fall-"

"TWICE!" Gon added angrily, still stomping towards the front doors to the school.

"-twice was a bit much, but-"

"Rolling over my foot," Gon added again.

"That was an accident, I swear. But you don't need to take it away _again_! I'm really, honestly sorry," Killua persisted.

He made his way in front of Gon to block his path, grabbing onto his arms and leaning down slightly to touch their foreheads together, giving a silent plea with his eyes. "Please?"

They stayed like that for a while with people passing by and giving looks, some stopping to see what was happening. Gon was actually enjoying the contact rather than getting frustrated, until the pale-skinned teen's eyes darted to the group of people watching them and his cheeks grew pink.

Gon sighed, not wanting the moment to end. He handed over the skateboard and watched Killua's face light up, elated at getting it back.

He didn't even remember why Killua practically worshipped the thing.

* * *

 

 

_**Age 11-12** _

_Killua swore if he could disappear into thin air, he would. There were so many kids around. So many. It was maddening and stressful to see this many other people in one place for the first time in his not-so-people-friendly-life._

_Gon elbowed him from the side, bringing his attention back to earth._ "It's okay Killua, Aunt Mito made sure you got the same classes as me for your first two years to get used to it all."

_Mito had been homeschooling Killua the first year he started living with them, but told him that he would have to go to public school after the first year. She talked to the school about it and got them to agree to give Killua the same classes as Gon for his first two years so he wouldn't be alone in learning to properly interact with people his age. Also so that he would be able to find his way around the school easier, being that he was actually starting in the middle of the school year._

_Killua had visibly relaxed at hearing so, but tensed once again when they walked into a classroom and immediately all eyes were on him._

"Ah, you must be our new student. Please, have a seat there in the back." _The teacher pointed to a seat in the back of the classroom in the middle aisle._

"Um, Mister Zepile, would it be alright if-"

"No, Gon. I don't care what animal it is or what it is telling you. You can not let it in. Now please have a seat."

"But-"

"Now Gon, you don't want your first detention do you?"

_Gon muttered a 'No sir' as he went to his seat at the front of the class in the left most aisle. It really wasn't all that far away, but to Killua it seemed like miles away right now._

_The teacher, Zepile, had gone on with his lesson about history and old artifacts then. Killua only half paid attention as he was more focused on taking in everything he could about the room and the people in it._

_He noticed three girls giggling and constantly sending glances his way and multiple boys whispering while not so subtly staring at him, wondering if that was good or bad. He chose to ignore them and looked up to the teacher at the front to see his back turned as he talked non-stop and wrote on the whiteboard._

_A crumpled piece of paper bounced against Killua's forehead and landed on his desk. He looked down and examined it, before he looked around and saw the three giggling girls waving and Gon glaring at them from across the room._

_Uncrumpling the paper, the note had "i luv ur hair", "you have dreamy eyes" and "want to eat lunch with us?" written all over it. Killua did like his own hair as well, had no idea what they meant by 'dreamy eyes', and planned to eat with Gon._

_Gon had watched this all happening from the corners of his eyes, happy that other people were already trying to get along with the other boy. He had been angry at first thinking they threw the ball of paper just to be mean, but visibly calmed when he noticed Killua reading it instead._

_When Zepile finally finished, he told everyone to partner up and Gon immediately got up to go sit next to Killua. When he turned around though, his friend was already surrounded by the three girls from earlier all asking to be his partner._

_Gon didn't know why that was so bothering to him._

_He made his way over and tried to push his way past the girls, only to find they were practically glued together and he couldn't push past._

_Now he was annoyed. He wanted to get to his friend._

"Excuse me, I'm trying to get to my friend if you don't mind," _he tried politely, as Aunt Mito taught him to never be rude to a lady._

"I really doubt Killua would want to partner up with a country boy like you. You would probably cause him to get an F on his first day here!" _one of the girls spat, all three turning to glare at him._

_Pissed. That was the only word to explain what Gon was feeling now. "Surely these aren't the 'ladies' Aunt Mito was talking about."_

"Go away hags," _they all heard from the silver-haired boy. This caused the three of them to gasp and turn to look at him, shocked._ "Next time you talk to him like that I'm going to shave each of you bald too," _Killua warned them with clenched fists, causing them to back off._

_Now Gon was quite pleased, and smirking triumphantly at winning the best prize of all. Killua's attention._

_A year and a couple of months later Killua's birthday had rolled around, marking the second year Killua had moved in with the family. They were sitting around the table singing 'Happy birthday' to him as he grinned brightly. He wanted to tear into the pure chocolate cake with a double coat of chocolate icing so badly he could feel his skin itching at the prospect of being so near to it and not being allowed to touch it yet._

_He already had to watch Mito make it from scratch with so much chocolate all over the place. He had quite a few bruises on his hands from trying to steal the chocolate batter so many times and having his hand smacked away by a wooden spoon._

_When they finally finished, Killua didn't even bother making a wish before blowing out the candles and reaching out for a handful of cake. He immediately had his hand smacked away by a wooden spoon._

_"Does she always have that thing on standby just in case?!" he thought angrily, glaring at her for not letting him just tear into it._

"Killua..you didn't even make a wish..." _Gon informed him sadly._

"I have triple chocolate cake in front of me and you beside me. There isn't anything else I need." _Killua stated without even realizing it._

_Watching Mito cut the cake right down the middle and putting one half on a big plate, She passed said plate to Killua and shoved a fork in his face before he could shove his hand or face into the cake. Killua accepted the fork reluctantly. He would still much rather just wolf it down._

_Gon smiled at what Killua said earlier. He passed his piece of cake over to Killua rather than eating it, thinking his friend should get as much as he wanted today._

_After Killua had destroyed the cake and any remnants that might remain of pieces that belonged to others, and Mito had wiped his face of blotches of chocolate, they passed presents on to him. Granny had gotten the preteen a set of twin yo-yos, which Killua loved at first sight._

_Mito was not happy with her own decision for his birthday gift, but counted it as Gon's birthday gift as well, and she believed together they could manage to be responsible enough for this._

"I have to go outside to bring your present in, Killua. Open Gon's gift next and I will be back with your last one." _she informed the boy, walking out of the room to the backdoor._

_Killua stared after her, before he turned back around and found a giant box hovering in front of his face._

"Open it Killua!" _Gon chanted over and over, literally bouncing up and down on his toes._

"Okay okay! Just calm down! Geez!" _Killua shouted, snatching the box out of the spiky-haired boy's hands. He examined the box, wondering wha-_

"OPEN IT KILLUAAA!" _Gon practically screamed right in Killua's ear, who was hoping it was a good hearing aide that he would inevitably need now.  
_

_Killua tore through the wrapping and opened the over sized box to find a yellow and red skateboard inside. He took it out and carefully examined it, already happy to have it as he had been watching the skaters down by the skate park with great amusement whenever they passed by._

"I noticed you watch people who skate a lot, and when I saw it I thought it'd be perfect for you! So do you like it? Huh? Huh?!" _Gon explained, still hopping up and down on his toes in excitement._

_Killua smiled and mentally swore to hunt down and kill anyone who ever stole it or broke it, and promised to cherish it forever._

_Pat pat pat pat._

_The three of them turned to face the door, and saw Mito walk into the room with a dog almost as big as both Killua and Gon._

" **YES!** " _Gon yelled, running to go greet the dog._

"Holy-"

"Killua," _Mito warned, already aware of his not so innocent language._

"-crap that's a big dog," _Killua finished, correcting himself before Mito decided to scold him.._

"I hope it's not too big, did you want a smaller one?" _Mito asked, concerned she had chosen the wrong kind of dog for him._

"No way, a small dog wouldn't be able to scare people!" _the silver-haired boy retorted, running over to play with his new pet that he had been hinting at wanting for months._

_He saved up his allowance for the longest time to get a spiked collar with the name 'Mike' engraved into it after then._


	12. Dirty JokesXPossessivenessXGrowing Up

Gon made his way through the hall to his home room class, Killua in tow directly behind him after both had finished putting away their belongings in their lockers. They didn't really need anything for home room anyways, it was more of a free period to wake up for the rest of the day at their school.

When they entered the room, they were two of the first inside. Gon went to sit at their usual two-person table, lying his forehead down on the edge of his side so he could still see the floor while Killua sat on top of the desk itself on his own side.

"Come on Gon, don't tell me you're still mad. I'm really sorry," Killua tried to reason, only getting a grumble in response from the spiky-haired teen.

Killua deadpanned and looked around the room for something to get his friend out of his bad mood. Finding nothing, he decided to improvise.

Gon saw a head of silver fluffy hair pop out from beneath his side of the table and lie itself on his lap, looking up at him.

"I'll make it worth your while tonight if you cheer up," Killua whispered to him, a dirty smirk forming on his pale face.

Gon's cheeks flared red at hearing his best friend talk like that and his expression had changed from annoyed to shocked. It certainly wasn't the last thing on his mind since puberty hit long ago, but he wasn't really thrilled that Killua was most likely only joking.

He had to be.

Gon averted his eyes to the side and split his legs to let Killua's head drop and hit the chair, trying hard not to laugh at the look of shock on his face that was just barely seen when he suddenly dropped.

"Okay, are we even now?" asked the silver-haired teen crawling out from under the table, earning some looks from other students who had just come in.

Gon raised his head and gave his best friend who was climbing back on top of the table a cheeky grin.

"I wasn't really mad anymore anyways, I forgave you before we even got in the room," he answered, standing up and leaning in closer to whisper the next bit in Killua's ear. "But I absolutely love making you talk like that to me."

Killua's head snapped in his direction, blushing scarlet red and staring at a snickering Gon as the other teen walked away to go sign their names in on the attendance sheet at the front of the room.

 _"That cheeky bastard,"_ Killua thought to himself, hating his best friend for using his own trick against him.

Even though he loved it when Gon did that.

* * *

 

 

_**Age 12-13** _

_After his first year in school, Killua had concluded one thing._

_If you weren't Gon, Mito or Granny, he hated you._

_He had thus far built a reputation for himself that he didn't even care for, finally having the confidence to stand up to other people._

_The cutest, meanest, best looking best friend of the country boy._

_A long-winded amalgamation of a bunch of titles from multiple people. Though he only cared about what Gon had to say, so it didn't matter anyways. Just like Gon only really cared about what Killua had to say about him._

_Although that never deterred the girls from flocking wherever the silver-haired preteen went, which never failed to make Gon turn selfish and protective of what he believed was his and his only. The spiky-haired preteen never understood just why he got like that, but he knew that he felt pretty threatened whenever one of those groups of girls would watch his best friend and giggle all together at him for some reason._

_Killua knew why the girls would do that to him, but thought nothing of it as he was not interested in them in the first place. Though he would silently question why on earth whenever they passed a group of girls, Gon would grasp his hand or wrist tightly and significantly quicken their pace, even if he had to drag the other away._

_When they turned thirteen later that year a bit of puberty had already hit Killua, and Gon would wake up some nights hearing Killua calling his name very quietly in ways that the teen had never heard before. The strange thing was his silver-haired friend was still asleep during these times. Gon had no idea why he did that, but was only able to hear him because they were always sleeping tangled together._

_On those nights Killua would often be awoken by the spiky-haired teen who thought he was having a nightmare, and after having a dream such as that could hardly look straight at the other. Especially from so, so close. His face would always turn as red as possible at hearing that he woke up his companion by making sounds in his sleep, and would turn his back to the other telling him not to worry about it and just go back to sleep._

_Only a few months into that happening, Gon had the same experiences in his sleep, waking up one night in a puddle of his own sweat and seeing Killua sleeping soundly beside him. He stared wide-eyed at the teen next to him..._

_"No way he feels the same," he thought as he lied back down. "I wonder who he would dream about, though."_


	13. Cheering UpXHomeworkXDeath Wish

After Gon had them signed in, he returned to their table and sat down, leaning forward with his chin in his hand while letting out a small sigh.

Killua knew what this little act was for. Gon was still quite an energetic person, and being confined in a classroom where physical activity is limited from absolutely none to none was not fun for him at all.

Although today was a Wednesday, so...

"You know we have P.E. today, right Gon?" the silver-haired teen reminded his best friend, causing the other to perk up immediately.

Their time in home room was spent trying to get what work done they could for Gon's extra credit, so that he could continue passing by C's and B's. Killua was unusually smart himself, and any subject you threw at him he would ace without much difficulty at all.

Except math. They both hated math with a passion and wished it would just burn.

* * *

 

_**Age 13** _

"Killua, can't you please just do it for me?" _Gon practically begged him, even clasping his hands together and giving him a pleading look._

"I don't even like doing mine, the least you can do is learn yours so I don't have to do it for you in the future," _the pale-skinned teen replied, popping his chocolate sucker back in his mouth._

_Gon was attempting his homework for the third time that day, and both Mito and Granny had forbade him from taking anymore breaks until it was finished._

"Aunt Mito said you had to help me though!" _the spiky-haired teen tried, pointing an accusing finger at his best friend._

"Yeah, and I'm helping you. Every time you try to sneak off I make you sit back down and continue working," _Killua informed him, moving his sucker to the side of his mouth so he could talk and smirking evilly._

_Gon was already frustrated from trying to work on what he couldn't understand. So in response to Killua's ideals he snatched the sucker out of his best friend's mouth, shoved it in his own and chomped down hard, completely shattering it with his teeth._

_Gon gave a triumphant grin at the look of shocked horror frozen on Killua's face. Killua started breathing hard. Very hard. His face formed into one of pure rage._

_Mito turned around at the sound of foot steps thudding on the stairs and saw Gon running faster than she'd ever seen him run before._

"I got to go to the library for a book Aunt Mito! I'll be back later!" _Gon informed her, not even sparing a glance as he fumbled with the lock on the front door._

_He glanced backwards and ducked as a chair came flying across the living room and smashed into the front door right where his head was. Finally getting the lock undone he opened the door and ran as fast as he could across the lawn and down the sidewalk, Killua hot on his tail and neither even bothering with shoes._

_Mito popped her head out the door and watched them go. After seeing the chair fly she knew the library was just an excuse so he could stop working to avoid death. She looked down at the broken pieces of said chair on the floor and sighed._

_Killua will be made to clean it up later, and probably be forbidden from helping Gon with homework ever again._


	14. SeparationXArgumentXAvoidance

After attendance was called to make sure all the names written down were actually present, home room was dismissed and everyone reported to their first classes for the day.

Killua and Gon, unfortunately, were separated for most of the day as Killua had mostly advanced classes and Gon was still in regular ones. They could still be together during lunch, and had P.E. as well as math together.

* * *

 

_**Age 13** _

_The two years that Killua and Gon had to have the same classes are over, and as much as they hated it they were separated almost instantly. Killua had been put in almost all advanced classes because it seemed as though he was too smart for his own good so far. The only classes he hadn't been put in the advanced version of was Math and History. Though they still managed to get some of the same time together such as during lunch and electives._

_Gon didn't mind as much because he knew Killua could handle himself by now, though he was still not happy he wasn't there to make sure no one else took him away._

_Killua absolutely hated the idea of being separated, because attention was almost always drawn directly to him upon simply walking in the room. He didn't appreciate that everyone loved to either practically stalk him or try to pick on him without Gon there to make it all worth while and help him keep his patience in check._

"Killua, please try not to hurt anyone anymore," _Gon warned him, hoping to not hear Killua's name get called over the loudspeakers about coming to the principal's office._

"Yeah yeah," _Killua responded distantly, not even looking at his companion as he skated up the school's sidewalk slowly, hood drawn over his head and hands in his hoodie pockets._

"Killua, I'm serious!" _Gon whined at not being taken seriously._

"I'm just kidding, calm down. I'll try not to hurt anyone," _Killua tried again, this time looking over and smiling to show he was really paying attention._

"You don't usually take your promises very seriously. I don't want you to _try_ not to hurt someone, I want you to _not_ hurt anyone. Period."

"Look, do you want me to _try_ or just go ahead and do it? You know how these people piss me off," _Killua asked him, his tone a little more aggressive now._

_Gon tossed his hands up shoulder-level, signaling he gave up this argument, and walked on ahead._

"I'm not bailing you out this time, but I'll be really disappointed in you if you get in another fight," _the spiky-haired teen pointed out, practically speed walking away in anger._

_Killua ended up grinding his teeth so hard that he bled that day, but avoided 6 potential fights._


	15. CaughtXPainXFood

During lunch time Gon and Killua chose to meet at their usual spot under the bleachers in the gymnasium, as they had P.E. right after lunch anyways.

"Killua, at least eat something before you start playing with my phone," Gon reprimanded the other teen whom was leaning against him, knowing that he'll just complain that he didn't get to eat when the bell rings.

Killua idly grabbed an apple off his lunch tray and opened his mouth while bringing it to his face, not looking away from the phone as he did so. Gon sighed at this sight and turned back to his own food, before he heard something hit the floor next to him. Looking back at his best friend, he noticed Killua had dropped his apple, but his mouth still hung open and his eyes were wide.

"Killua? What's the matter?" he asked, leaning over to look at the screen on his phone. He noticed the picture from this morning taking up the whole screen, and his own eyes widened.

"Gon..what the _hell_ is this?" Killua asked through clenched teeth. The spiky-haired teen began laughing nervously and scratching the back of his head.

"Um..ah, well, you see.." he began, falling short on thinking of a good excuse. "I came to wake you up this morning, but you and Mike just looked so funny together..I couldn't pass up on taking a picture of it." He began slowly inching away in case Killua made a grab for him.

Killua stared at the image of himself hanging off the side of the bed with their dog sleeping on top of the pillow that was on top of his head. Killua smiled after a while and waved at Gon to come back over, whom had scooted a good 10 feet away.

"I'm not _that_ dumb, Killua." Gon said, staring at him like he was crazy, and moved further away.

He legitimately felt like he was going to die at any moment. He refused to blink right now because he knew Killua could be really fast and didn't feel like opening his eyes to a fist.

Maybe that was over exaggerating a bit..but still.

Killua sighed, closing his eyes and standing up with a small smirk. Gon immediately stood up as well, watching Killua walk towards him, his back to a wall. When the silver-haired teen got close enough to reach out and grab Gon he opened his eyes and glared at his friend.

They stayed like that for a while, and Killua could hear the other's breathing growing uneven. Gon couldn't avoid blinking much longer, and decided to move his head to the right as his eyes were half closed in a blink. As soon as he opened them he saw Killua dropping to his knees holding his own wrist, and a crack on the concrete wall where Gon's head was.

"Killua!" the teen cried, worried about his friend being hurt before he realized something. "Were you trying to _break my face_ or just plain _kill me?!_ "

Killua clenched his hurting fist as blood spots began to form on his knuckles. He knew his friend was pretty resilient, and had expected his face to take most of the impact though didn't believe it would really phase him all that much. He knew Gon could take a hit. Though in expecting the other's face to take the hit he wasn't prepared to hit such a hard surface and didn't really brace himself. He was biting his bottom lip so hard to keep from yelling out in pain that he was pretty sure he would be bleeding from there soon enough, too.

"A little bit of both," Killua ground out through clenched teeth, attempting to stand up. "Sleep with one eye open tonight."

Gon smirked evilly, walking so close that their noses were touching. "Or what?" he challenged, poking his friend's damaged knuckles and watching him crumple to the ground in a heap.

"Damn it Gon _that hurts!_ " he practically screamed as Gon cockily walked back to their forgotten food.

"The bell is going to ring soon, by the way. Might want to actually eat something before it does," The spiky-haired teenager warned his friend, who was still rolling around on the ground dramatically and holding his wrist.

When Killua finally calmed down he was lying on his back on the floor. He huffed in annoyance, using his good hand to get up and go sit next to Gon. Gon smiled and slid his tray over to the other, and as Killua made a grab for something on it the bell rang.

"That's karma for you." Gon told him, fighting back a laugh as Killua groaned.

"Yeah, well karma is a bitch and I'm full of it," Killua retorted, quickly shoveling as much food from his tray down his mouth as he could. Gon sighed at the sight, mumbling something about choking as he sat back and waited for the other to finish.

* * *

 

_**Age 13** _

_Mito sighed heavily as she opened the fridge and found it had once again been raided. She opened the cabinets and got the same result._

"Honestly, they eat a months worth of food within a week every time..." _she thought aloud, going up the stairs to their room. When she opened the door she caught sight of Killua's leg on the windowsill going out. She ran to the window and poked her head out, looking up and noticing them climbing onto the roof._

"Boys! What did I say about getting onto the roof?!" _she scolded them as they looked over the edge to see her._

"But Aunt Mito, the satellite is acting up again!"

 _Mito knew that was just an excuse to get up on the roof because they run around more than they watch television._ "So you couldn't use the ladder because?" _she questioned, going along with this._

"Well that just takes the fun out of it," _Killua replied, blunt and flat. Mito ran a hand through her hair, trying not to get agitated._

"Well I came to let you both know I'm about to go to the store. If the food I buy doesn't last more than a week, I'm not buying anymore for another two weeks," _she warned them. Of course she wouldn't actually starve the two children, but she hoped it would at least get her point across._

"Gotcha, Mito!" _Killua replied with a grin and a thumbs up._

_They were out of food in 8 days._


	16. RazorXSmart MouthedXRope Fight

As soon as Killua had finished eating, they picked up their trays and headed out from under the bleachers, tossing out what they didn't finish and leaving the trays on top of the trashcan to take back after gym. The two went to sit on the bleachers and wait for the rest of the class to show up when they noticed their teacher, a large bulky man named Razor, walking out of his office in the corner of the gym.

"I thought I told you two to stop eating in my gym," he chastised them, crossing his arms over his chest as he walked up to the pair.

"You did indeed, sir," Killua replied, and Gon covered his face with his hands as he waited for the turn of phrase his friend would inevitably throw out. "Which is why we decided to eat in the _school_ gym, and not _your_ gym."

Razor glared down at the smiling silver-haired teen, before a smile broke out on his face. "Very funny, kid. I like a sense of humor," Razor told him, before leaning down to get at eye level with Killua, "but next time I catch you both in here with trays I'm giving you F's."

Killua crossed one leg over the other while resting his elbow on the top leg and leaning forward to rest his chin in his good hand, sporting a rather sly smile. "I'll be sure to eat off of the floor from now on, sir."

"Let's put it another way then. Next time I see you both in here before the rest of the class, you're getting F's," Razor tried again.

"Well that changes everything," Killua retorted, and Razor smiled in victory. "I'll be sure to be late from now on. When my attendance looks terrible because of that I'll tell the principal you told me to be late everyday."

"If only you had those smarts in your head instead of in your mouth," the bulky man said as he walked away. That wiped the smile off Killua's face promptly.

Gon finally uncovered his face and looked up to see it was over. He looked at the large double doors and saw other students coming in and going to the locker rooms to change their clothes for class.

"I'll never understand why you have to challenge every adult you come across," Gon said, unzipping his green jacket and pulling it off to toss over his shoulder.

"He started it," Killua retorted childishly, pulling his V-neck shirt over his head and dropping it on top of the other's jacket. He did the same with his turtleneck.

Gon sighed and got up to start his laps that Razor made the class do at the beginning of gym. Killua quickly caught up to his friend, now jogging backwards in front of him. As they passed the girls locker room he saw most of the girls coming out and glared at them.

This only caused the girls to giggle before starting their own laps. They knew he was glaring at them because they had stolen his V-neck and turtleneck shirts before.

"Killua..." Gon started, giving his friend a look.

"Calm down, just trying to scare them," he told the other, staring intently as the same girls passed by the bleachers.

When he and Gon finished their laps they started their stretches against the matted walls. The two finished as the other students starting to join them against the wall, so they went back to sitting on the bleachers to wait for Razor to come out.

* * *

 

 

_**Age 13** _

"So..you want me..to climb that rope?" _Killua questioned slowly, eyeing the rope dangling in front of his face. The middle school gym teacher was about ready to yell at this point, as Killua had procrastinated this by a good 10 minutes now._

"Killua, just get it over with! I want my turn already!" _Gon whined from behind him, itching to do something active._

_Killua sighed at this and grabbed a hold of the rope, feeling lazy today. He climbed rather slowly and got about a quarter of the way up when he felt something poke his bottom, making him freak out with a gasp. He looked down and saw Gon right behind him, grinning like an idiot._

"As much as I love this view, can you go a little faster?" _Gon asked, and the silver-haired teen's cheeks flared red at the comment about the view. He drew his foot up and kicked down hard, seeing Gon dodge his foot._ "I think I like the sight of your red face more, though."

"You're not even supposed to be up here with me!" _Killua said through gritted teeth, aiming another kick as he cheeks grew a darker shade of red. Whether it was from embarrassment or anger was to be determined._

"But I didn't want to wait any longer, and I _know_ you can go way faster than this. So go!" _Gon reprimanded, poking his friend's bottom once more. Killua practically yelped at this, and grabbed onto the rope between the sides of his feet and knees before bending backwards and reaching out for his frienemy._

"Killua wait! Don't!" _Gon shouted, eyes wide and obviously surprised that his friend was this agile._

"Gon! What are you doing up there? You know it's only one person on the rope at a time!" _the middle school gym teacher shouted at them, now catching sight of the second up there that he didn't notice before._

_Killua was angrily trying to pry Gon's hands off the rope in a vain attempt as the other tightened his grip. Gon's head popped up then as an idea struck him, and he proceeded to lick Killua's hands. Killua froze and stared at the slobber on his hands with a look of shocked horror._

_"Fine, two can play that game. Not like my hands aren't already fucking disgusting now," Killua thought, reaching down and shoving his index and middle finger into each of his laughing friend's nostrils._

"AGHH! KILLUA!" _Gon practically screeched, feeling his own saliva invading his nose and pain at his friend's tugging._

 _He let go of the rope with one hand to grab Killua's wrist, only to have his own wrist snatched by Killua's free hand. He could feel his friend's fingers dig deeper and start to wiggle inside his nose, and it did_ _**not** _ _feel good at all._

_Gon couldn't take it anymore._

"I'm not going down alone," _he told his friend before he let go of the rope, using that hand to grab onto Killua's wrist. Killua's legs could not support the weight of both of them on something at the same time and both began to plummet to the bottom as the other students gasped. The gym teacher ran below them both, arms open and ready to catch them. Neither even looked phased at falling._

"Guess I have to do all that climbing again," _Killua stated with a sigh, looking up at his previous spot on the rope,_ "Well, we're almost at the bottom, get ready to make a grab."

_Gon nodded and they freed themselves from each other, grabbing onto the rope a few seconds before they would hit the floor, skidding to a stop just out of reach of the teacher. The teacher sighed and dropped his arms, staring at the two._

"Both of you in my office," _he demanded, before looking at Killua's dripping hands and making a disgusted face at the one with snot on it._ "But go clean yourselves up first."


	17. One By OneXCompetitiveXFluff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably the fluffiest chapter I have so far, and likely my favorite because of that. I'm going to start revising chapter 18 right after this is uploaded, and I'm up to the beginning of the flashback on chapter 19, so it won't be too long on that one. It'll start slowing down some once 19 is out because I won't just be revising and putting out already finished chapters. So don't expect another 17 chapters in less than 24 hours anymore.
> 
> Sorry, but hope you continue to enjoy it anyways! If you got this far, thank you for reading and hope you continue to enjoy.(Or start to enjoy, whichever applies)
> 
> Chapter 18 might be a bit longer though, it's a sort of fight scene during the dodge ball game. I always feel dumb when I do fight scenes and feel like I'm doing it all wrong. But I'll try to get it to a way that I at least feel confident enough to get it out here.

When Razor emerged from his office and saw all but one student done with the beginning laps and stretches, he made his way to the middle of the gym.

"Alright, everyone line up on this line," he ordered, staring at his clipboard and pointing to the line dividing the court in half.

Gon and Killua started making their way over, and stood on the black line with the rest of the class. Razor continued to stare at his clipboard even while everyone was lined up, seeming to be in deep thought.

"I bet you it's dodge ball," Killua whispered, nudging Gon beside him to get his attention.

"Killua, don't talk, you're going to get us in trouble!" Gon whispered back, kicking the side of the other's leg.

Killua's grin dropped, and he not so subtly stomped on the spiky-haired teen's foot. Gon sucked in a sharp breath through clenched teeth, standing up unusually straight. Razor glanced up from his clipboard at the sound and noticed the teenager's strange behavior.

"Something to say, Mr. Freecss?" Razor questioned, and went back to his clipboard after the teen shook his head.

Gon glared over at Killua seeing his friend holding back laughter until he smirked, an idea popping into his head. He sneakily inched his hand closer to Killua's sore hand, and flicked the knuckles as hard as he could. Killua instantly dropped to his knees and threw his hands up shoulder height, clawing at the air from the pain. His cheeks puffed out from holding in a scream and he threw his head up, squeezing his eyes shut. By now he figured his knuckles were probably broken.

"What on earth are you doing?" Razor asked, throwing his full attention to the silver-haired teen. The rest of the class began to snicker at the show, thinking he was just trying to be funny. Killua squeaked in reply, and Gon went down on one knee next to him, putting on a show of concern.

"Killua? Are you hurt?" Gon asked, pretending to look him over before leaning in close to his ear. "Yep, karma still sucks," he whispered before blowing into his ear. Killua eyes shot wide open and his cheeks flared red at the action.

"Looks like he's faking Mr. Razor. Look!" Gon pointed at Killua's face, "He's even embarrassed at being caught!"

"You little son of a-"

" _Killua_ , seeing how you seem so keen on disrupting our time why don't you be our first team captain. You can stand up here next to me." Razor pointed to the spot next to himself. "Gon, you can be our other team captain. I'd really rather not have our two most athletic students on the same team."

Killua stood up and walked to one side of the teacher, mumbling something under his breath. Gon practically hopped over to the other side of Razor, ready to begin doing something with all his pent-up energy.

A loud boom of thunder was heard from outside. "We won't be going outside today for obvious reasons. We'll be doing dodge ball today," most of the students groaned while a few others silently cheered, "you know the rules. If you don't, I'll be more than happy to explain."

At this Razor noticed the hands of the students who groaned at the mention of the sport raise their hands, knowing full well they just wanted to buy time.

"No one? Good! Let's begin by picking teams. Killua, you first," Razor announced with a smile.

Killua rolled his eyes, pointing at someone at random. He didn't pay attention to anyone in class but Gon and the girls who like to steal his shirts, so he didn't know or care who was and who wasn't useful. He knew the outcome of this game anyways.

Once the teams were finished being picked, Razor planted ten dodge balls on the middle line and told the two teams to line up on opposite sides of the gym.

"Gon, Killua, at least try not to hurt the others this time. Please," Razor warned before blowing his whistle, and watched as the aforementioned two blasted off toward the middle.

The two had been nothing if not active ever since they met, and most of the time even went so far as to make exercising a competition. They even had weights at home and would more often than not sneak into the local gym to stay until they got caught to burn off excess energy.

Killua got there slightly faster, grabbing two balls and throwing them backwards while kicking a third back with one of his feet. When Gon got to the line he grabbed one of Killua's wrists to stop him and used his other hand to pick up and try to tag the other with the ball. Killua ducked back, dodging the ball that was aimed for his chest.

He tried to kick Gon's legs out from under him in a side sweep. The spiky-haired teen jumped over his friend's leg and threw the ball at Killua's face, whom dodged to the left and was freed from Gon's gasp when the other had to dodge a ball Killua's team had thrown.

As soon as Killua was free he jumped back and he turned to his side as two balls flew past both sides of him, happy that he was as skinny as he was. He looked across the line and saw Gon grinning at him like an idiot, immediately figuring out why and ducking as a red ball flew over the back of his head.

 _"Tch. Trying to hit me with a rebound,"_ Killua thought angrily, kicking up two red balls at his feet and catching them in his hands. He watched the other side for a target, knowing Gon wasn't going to get taken out anytime soon. He noticed one boy doing the same, and made the ball spin before he threw it at the ground next to Gon.

Just as he thought, the boy watched the ball land at Gon's feet and looked away thinking he was safe before the spinning of the ball made it veer to the left right towards the boy, hitting him square in the stomach.

_"They all expect me to go after Gon, which means I'm free to take out whoever I want."_

_"Maybe we've been watching too many action movies,"_ Gon thought as he remembered the beginning of the game and staring at the boy behind him walking off the court, thinking that the ball was meant for himself. He leaned forward a bit to dodge a ball he could hear flying through the air toward him. He heard a girl yelp and turned around to look at where that ball aimed at his head flew, noticing it had hit one of the girls on his team that was behind him.

He sighed, knowing he was going to be the death of his team because of Killua. They really were far too competitive to be allowed in gym class. Or to play games.

Or do almost anything.

* * *

 

 

_**Age 14** _

"If I have to pull you two off of each other one more time-"

"We said we were sorry!" _Gon tried to reason as he and Killua were being dragged by their shirt collars by Mito._

"Sorry doesn't make up for the picnic table you flipped over, or the poor man you pied in the face, or all the food you got _everywhere_ during your little fight," _Mito chided while dragging them away from the eating contest the two had entered in, and got disqualified from when they broke out fighting over trying to steal each other's food._

_So far they had started a food fight at the eating contest, sprained the ankle of 3 different people at the 3-legged race, impaled each other with darts at the balloon popping game, killed 3 goldfish at the goldfish game, and somehow managed to set fire to the dunk tank._

_All because they wanted to beat each other and/or everyone else at those games/competitions._

"If you two hurt one more person, destroy one more game, or get in a fight with each other one more time, we're going home and you're both going to be grounded for three months. _Three. Months,_ " _she warned them, putting emphasis on the last two words._ "It's a miracle we haven't been kicked out yet. Or arrested."

_Killua grumbled and Gon nodded in understanding, both of them being released and running off in the direction of the games once more. Killua stopped in front of a booth where you shoot squirt guns into a clown head's mouth and Gon stopped just short of him._

"I don't think we should do this, Killua..." _Gon knew full well what would happen the second they picked up those water guns._

"Yeah yeah, I know you hate losing all the time, but I want something from here." _Killua took a seat and began inspecting one of the water guns. Gon puffed out his cheeks and pouted, sitting next to his friend._

"I do _not_ lose all the time!" _the spiky-haired teen retorted, snatching one of the water guns for himself and feeling quite offended._

_Killua aimed his gun at the clown's mouth, waiting for the bell to chime as a signal for them to begin. When the bell gave a loud 'Ding!' they both immediately began shooting the water into the clowns' mouths._

_Gon was winning by a miniscule amount, so Killua slid his foot over and used it to tip over the stool his friend was sitting on. As Gon collided with the ground, Killua shot far into the lead. Although Gon wasn't just going to take that._

_Killua fell to the ground in a heap when Gon tackled him off his own stool, lying with his back on Killua to keep him down while he shot at his clown's mouth from his spot on top of his friend. Killua pulled his water gun over the spiky-haired teen's face to blind him, and kicked the other's gun away during the surprise._

"Killuaaa _stop it!_ " _Gon yelled, grabbing a hold of the other's wrist to keep him from getting a shot off. Killua grabbed hold of Gon's hands and held them up, using his legs to pin the other's down on the ground and shooting into his clown's mouth until he won._

_He let go of Gon's limbs, crawled out from under him and jumped to his feet, giving a small cheer of victory before going up to the prize handler and pointing at what he wanted. Upon grabbing his prize he was immediately jerked away from the booth by the back of his shirt. Turning around he saw an angry faced Mito dragging Gon along by his wrist as well._

_When they got to the car, she practically threw them both in the back seat and went to the driver's seat to start the car. When all seat belts were buckled, she pulled out of the parking lot and began the drive home._

_Killua could feel the anger radiating off of Mito. He looked over at his friend and saw the teen with his arms crossed, a mixture of sadness and anger on his face. He couldn't tell if the spiky-haired teen was about to cry or yell, maybe both._

_Killua reached out and poked his friend on the shoulder to gain his attention. When he had it he offered his hand to hold and an apologetic smile, but Gon curtly turned his head away and stared out the window. Killua sighed and looked at his prize, deciding to wait until they got home to do what he had planned._

_When they pulled into the driveway, Mito turned off the car and ordered them to go straight to their room._

_Killua followed Gon into their room, closing the door softly as Gon plopped down onto the edge of the bed with his legs dangling off the side. Killua sat on the edge next to him, deciding to go ahead and get it over with._

"Hey, Gon?" _he said timidly, scratching the back of his head and looking to the side. Gon glared at him, probably the only indication he was going to get that he had the other's attention._ "Look, I'm really sorry I started that. But you were winning and-"

"So you _cheated_ and started a fight and got us thrown out and grounded for THREE MONTHS!" _the spiky-haired teen yelled at him, sitting up on his elbows to glare harder at his friend._

"Yeah, but I had a good reason!" _Killua tried, and flinched when Gon huffed at him._

 _The other sat up fully and crossed his arms, waiting for a good explanation._ "Yeah? What's that?" _Gon challenged, patience running thin._

 _Killua pulled out a white, fluffy cat with ocean blue eye beads and a small pink tongue poking out of the mouth line. He held it out in front of the other with a pink tint on his cheeks._ "I..wanted to win it for you, and I couldn't really do that if _you_ had won. So..I wanted to win at all costs and got a little carried away. I'm really sorry, please don't be mad at me anymore, Gon."

 _Gon stared at it in awe, all anger disappearing from inside him._ "Killu-"

"Shut up and take it! Geez," _Killua raised his slightly cracking voice at the other, jerking his hand with the plush toy closer. Gon smiled and took the toy, inspecting it in his hands._

"It looks like you, Killua!" _Gon exclaimed happily, all anger effectively gone. He turned to look at his friend who was staring at him in surprise at the sudden exclamation and Gon leaned forward, giving him a small kiss on the nose. When he pulled back he noticed the now scarlet red hue of the other's cheeks._

"Ah..eh..it doesn't..why..You! Ugh! You're so!" _Killua tried to yell out, not even able to create a coherent sentence right now,_ "AGH! You're so.. _you_!"

_Gon continued to smile as if nothing had even happened. The only thing on his mind was the fact that Killua had tried so hard to win something just for him. Nothing beyond that fact could have made him happier at the moment. He quickly glomped onto his silver-haired friend in a bone crushing hug, laughing merrily as he did so. As Gon pressed his cheek up against Killua's, the other attempted to struggle free from the hug and ended up sending them tumbling to the floor._

"I'm glad you're my best friend, Killua," _Gon admitted, rubbing his cheek against the other's. Killua finally resigned and just let it happen rather than attempting to fight it, knowing it was futile. Sighing, he slowly returned the hug and tried to will his blush away._

"Yeah," _Killua looked down at the plush cat toy squished between the two of them,_ "I am, too."

"I'm going to name him 'Killu'!" _Gon exclaimed._

_That killed it._

"Killua **NOOO!** Don't tear his head off!" _Mito heard Gon scream from upstairs, followed by a series of crashing noises. She was far too tired to even bother trying to deal with whatever was happening right now. She covered her face with her hand and slumped in her recliner, sighing in defeat._

_Gon sounded like he was going to cry, "Killua pleeeease!"_


	18. Dodge BallXAgilityXThose Eyes...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should have a lot of free time today, so hoping to have chapter 19 finished and revised either in the afternoon or later tonight. I'll add a bonus of the first scene in chapter 19 in a different perspective at the end of said chapter, too. Just because I feel like writing it from both being centered on Gon and being centered on Killua.
> 
> So I guess extra fluff for anyone who is still going to be reading come next chapter.
> 
> But again, hopefully two chapters will be out today. Maybe by some miracle three, we'll have to see who wants my attention today.
> 
> Enjoy!

By now there was only two competitors left on either side of the court. Gon on the left, Killua on the right.

The other students were sitting on the edge of the bleachers, ready for the show these two always put on during the competitions. Razor allowed them to bend the rules to a certain degree in any sport when it was just the two of them, just because it made them try harder and quite honestly made it more entertaining.

In this case, they could cross the line as long as they stayed inside the whole court. Tagging each other with a ball counts as an out but catching is only an out if the handler throws the ball, so catching a tag is not an out on either party. No blood or broken bones allowed.

Other than that, it was free game.

Razor knew he would probably be fired if the principal found out about this.

Gon tossed his two red balls up repeatedly, catching them in each hand while holding one on the ground with one foot. Killua dribbled his two red balls, smirking at his opponent.

Currently Gon held all but two of the dodge balls, those two being Killua's.

"You know, you could just give up now and maybe I won't make you sleep on the floor for losing. Maybe," Killua taunted from afar, earning a laugh from Gon across the court.

"Yeah? Maybe I won't tell Aunt Mito about how you-" Gon started, but was cut short as he had to duck to avoid an incoming ball aimed at his mouth. From the look on Killua's face, he could tell he had hit a sore spot.

"We agreed never to speak of that," Killua warned him, gripping his only ball hard enough for it to nearly pop as he walked slowly towards the spiky-haired teen.

"Yeah, I was just kidding. I wouldn't really tell anyone," Gon rebutted, sticking his tongue out. Killua had already crossed the line to the other side, and was now getting dangerously close. Gon was feeling pretty uncomfortable now as he knew these days while he had a small edge in raw strength and physical fortitude, his other half had the edge in agility and quick thinking.

Unfortunately the latter two were the winning factors in this game.

Gon began throwing the 9 balls around him in an effort to keep Killua away, though the silver-haired teen ended up simply leaning left or right to dodge them.

He left one ball for himself for when Killua got close, noticing that the other had quickened his pace now.

Razor smiled and decided to make this more interesting, tipping over a basket full of dodge balls as a small wave of them rolled over the court and littered the floor with them.

Both competitors froze at this and waited for the balls to settle, so as to not step on one and fall. Once everything had settled, Killua shot forward like a bullet in an attempt to tag Gon with the ball in his hand.

Gon dodged to his left, attempting to tag Killua as well. Killua jumped back to dodge and threw his ball forward, causing Gon to side step and turn to watch the ball. Knowing Killua it was bound to be on a rebound course to connect with the back of his head.

Then he remembered the rules had changed.

Gon turned back around to see Killua's foot flying through the air, ready to connect with his chest. He quickly sidestepped to the right and watched as Killua flew by, stopping and landing just short of the out-of-bounds line.

Then he noticed the look in Killua's eyes. He had only ever seen that look once before, and prayed to never see it again afterwards. It looked as those his very eyes were dead. All he knew about it was that apparently it ran in his previous family, and it usually spelled trouble for whoever his target was, as the silver-haired teen became very dangerous.

How Gon wished he wasn't the current target.

Gon watched Killua closely, then noticed his eyes dart to something above him for a split second.

_The ball._

Gon jumped backwards as a ball slammed into the spot he was just standing in, then he looked forward and saw Killua was gone. He looked to the right and saw Killua kicking up and throwing balls in all directions as he passed the others on the bleachers. Gon looked around and noticed red balls bouncing everywhere. For some reason it reminded him of spinning tops.

He took a step forward as two balls collided where his chest was, then a step back and two more hit where his head was. He threw his arm back and caught hold of what felt like a leg.

 _"Crap, I thought it was a ball,"_ he thought to himself, quickly turning around to see he was holding Killua's leg. He took a swing at Killua with the ball in his other hand, and missed as Killua bent down past his own leg to make a grab at Gon's ankles.

This must be the fruit of all that stretching Killua liked to do during exercises, as Gon never delved too deep into them with his friend.

Gon couldn't jump away in time, being in shock at how flexible his friend was.

Why did that thought make him feel funny?

When Killua grabbed both of Gon's ankles, he pulled upwards and made the spiky-haired teen fall to the floor on his back. Killua pinned him there with an elbow and threw his free hand back, catching a flying ball that was passing by and immediately bringing it down to where Gon's face was.

Gon stopped the ball with his free hand and shoved his own ball towards his opponent.

A loud thud resounded through the gym...

One of the bouncing balls had flown in the way and knocked the ball out of Gon's hand before it reached Killua. Gon was dumbfounded, mouth agape at such a thing happening. Killua hadn't even flinched, as if he knew it was going to happen.

 _"There's no freaking way he's doing all this on purpose. He can't be plan out something like THAT!"_ Gon thought, drawing back his legs and kicking Killua off him.

Killua flew back and landed on the other side of the court. He started picking up more idle balls and tossing them with all his might every which way to keep the cycle going.

Gon sprinted after him in an attempt to stop him. He couldn't handle both Killua and the balls at the same time, so one of them had to be stopped.

Killua threw rebounds at the spiky-haired teen to keep him from knowing exactly where it will go, preventing the act of catching one. Gon dodged each one until he got up close and made for a tag, only to have his wrist grabbed.

Killua brought his knee up to the other side of his arm and stopped just short of breaking Gon's arm. Gon stared wide-eyed at the attempt and knew Killua's subconscious was taking this way too seriously.

He didn't know Killua's previous family, but he already hated them for the fighting instinct he inherited from them.

Killua slowly let go of Gon's wrist and backed away, that dead-eyed emotionless look still on his face. Gon nodded to show he understood Killua didn't mean it, and they resumed. Gon dashed forward again and tried to tag Killua with his ball. He noticed Killua wasn't moving an inch, and stopped short to duck down as a ball flew over his head. He heard Killua catch it and jumped back as the silver-haired teen swung the ball at him.

Killua threw his ball at Gon, and Gon threw his ball at Killua before he even landed.

Both balls hit each other in mid-air, rebounding off each other and flying back towards their respective handlers. Both were so surprised they didn't even think to dodge, and both were smacked in the face simultaneously.

Gon landed on his back, while Killua his the back of his head on the ground.

Razor's laugh boomed throughout the gymnasium as he walked between the two of them.

"I wish all my students were like you two. It would make my life so much more fulfilling," he announced to the unconscious pair. Coincidentally the bell chose to ring at that moment.

Razor hoisted the two over his shoulders, collected their shirts and jacket, and proceeded to carry them to the nurse's office while declining the offer of the girls who asked to take Killua off his hands.

* * *

 

_**Age 14** _

_Killua stood in front of his spiky-haired friend protectively, glaring at the 4 much older and much taller boys in front of them._

_They had stayed out a bit later than usual..only until about midnight._

_Okay, maybe far too late._

_On their way to their neighborhood from the city, they noticed that they were being tailed by a group of not-so-nice looking guys._

"What do you guys want? We don't have any money for you to take," _Killua asked. One of the 4 took a step forward and grinned, showing the yellow teeth that held the toothpick in his mouth._

"Well we just wanted to say hey. But now that you ask that skateboard looks pretty nice. Why don't you hand that over since you're so willing to give us something?" _the guy said, reaching for the skateboard in Killua's hands._

"I'd rather jump off a building than let anyone else have this," _Killua retorted, smacking the other's hand away harshly._

"Oooh, you're pretty feisty huh?" _he questioned, his grin growing wider. He kicked Killua in the stomach, then grabbed the younger by the neck while he was doubling over in pain, lifting him clear off his feet._

"Killua!" _Gon yelled, making a grab for his friend and being grabbed by one of the other guys._

"Hey, Chop likes to eat cats. You think he'd like this?" _the guy asked their supposed leader, snatching the plush cat out of Gon's hands._

"No! You can't take that!" _Gon yelled, his kicks and punches falling just short of the face of the guy holding him up. Another one of the group came and picked up Killua's skateboard to inspect it._

"I don't know guys, this looks like a pretty crappy toy. Maybe we could use it as firewood," _the guy said, holding the skateboard with his fingertips as if it was a dirty piece of trash._

_Killua struggled harder at hearing this, clawing at the guy holding him by the neck. He turned his head and saw Gon being held up by one of his arms, flailing like his life depended on it._

_Killua's struggling ceased. The guy holding the silver-haired teen looked over at the boy in his hand._

"You finally-" _he began, but stopped short when he saw the look in the young teen's eyes. He froze when he noticed those eyes looked so..._

_Dead._

_All heads snapped in their direction when a pained scream came out. Killua had broken the man's arm by pushing on both sides with each hand substantially hard, and dropped to the ground. He turned and stared at the one holding Gon and Killu, sending chills down the man's spine._

_He charged forward and kicked the man in the shin, making him drop both Gon and Killu. Killua caught Killu and tossed him to Gon who had landed on his feet, massaging his wrist._

_The silver-haired teen swiped out the feet from under the guy in front of him and stomped down on his stomach to knock the wind out of him. He turned around and stared at the one holding his skateboard now, who promptly dropped it and backed away, tossing his hands up in surrender._

_Killua kicked up a broken bottle and caught it, taking a step forward, but was stopped when his shoulder was grabbed. He watched the group scurry away, then turned around and looked at a frightened Gon who was holding his shoulder._

"Killua?" _Gon questioned, not liking the look of Killua's eyes one bit. Killua stared at him awhile longer, as if trying to ascertain whether he was a threat or not, before his eyes slowly turned back to normal._

"Gon? Where did those idiots go? Did they just disappear? And..." _Killua questioned, looking around like he was completely lost. He grabbed his head as if he had a terrible headache before scooping up his skateboard._ "...Whatever, let's go home. My head is killing me."

_Gon didn't know how to explain what he saw, so he never told Killua of it. He just wished he'd never have to see it again._


	19. DisorientedXTrust MeXNightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said before, I'm making this up as I go. Apparently I wanted to attempt to bring the feels, didn't even realize I was doing it until I was already half done. Mainly happens in the bonus.
> 
> Enjoy.

Killua opened his eyes slowly and quickly closed them again to shield them from the near-blinding light that shone above him.

"...cute..."

Killua could hear someone talking in the room, wherever he was. He was too disoriented to make out who the voice belonged to, however.

"...maybe...love..."

 _"Must be one of the girls,"_ he thought to himself, trying to make out what was being said. Everything sounded so far away right now, even the laughter he heard now.

Laughter?

"Ah...awake!" he heard someone exclaim, not catching the middle of it. He began to wonder how they even knew he was awake before he noticed he had been holding his head. He didn't even know he had been doing so.

"Ms. P...think...in pain," Killua heard, wishing he had caught the whole name.

"Seems...We'll talk...situation...time," he heard a new voice say.

Everything still sounded very distant, so very fuzzy. He felt something being pressed against his lips. "Dr...slowly...ay?"

Killua had no idea what was being pressed against his lips, and was now extremely paranoid. Why was Gon not with him? Who were these people? What the hell were they pressing against his face? Why did his head suddenly feel like an iceberg?

So many questions were flooding inside his head, he swung his hand at the foreign object being pressed against his mouth and heard the bleary sound of it breaking against a wall on the other side of the room. _"Glass?"_

Then he felt a major pain in the hand he swiped the foreign object with, and heard a faint yell. _"My knuckles! Why do they hurt so much?!..Did..that yell come from me?"_

"...lua! St...down!"

Killua did not feel safe at all. He would swear that was his name that was said. Why do these people know his name? He couldn't get himself to open his eyes, so he began blindly thrashing around before he felt his arms being caught and held down.

He ceased his thrashing when he felt something wet hit his face. Then another drop. Another.

Did they throw him outside in the rain? Was it even still raining? How long had it been?

He felt a pair of arms wrap around his torso, and more wet droplets hit his face.

"..ospital?"

"I..on't thin..so. He ju..t needs rest."

His hearing was starting to clear up some, and he listened intently as he could make out most words now.

"It looks like he..hear us now. See how he..more alert?"

Killua felt the arms around him loosen and a weight lifted off his chest for a moment, though he still felt droplets every so often.

"Killua? It's me, Gon." Killua jerked at hearing the name, and tried to sit up abruptly only to be held down. "No no, calm down. It's okay. You're safe, okay?"

Killua did not feel safe right now. He kept feeling wet droplets hit his skin, and Gon did not sound okay. He didn't sound hurt, but he did not sound okay. Killua tried to open his eyes again, but it still hurt so much that he had to clamp them shut once more.

When he felt Gon release him, he immediately sat up and threw his arms around to search for his friend. Then he felt someone settle in on the small bed behind him, followed by arms wrapping around his back to his front. He grabbed at the foreign arms and tried to pry them off, wanting to go find Gon. He began to growl and whine, desperately trying to free himself.

"Shhh Killua, it's okay. Everything is alright," he heard Gon reassure him from behind. "I'm here, okay? Just calm down."

He felt Gon rest his chin on his shoulder, quietly shushing him and whispering 'It's okay'. That's when he felt the wetness on his cheek, neck and shoulder instead of his face.

"Mr. Paladiknight, will you get me another glass and three pills?"

He heard heavy footsteps for a while, before light ones started approaching and tensed up, feeling Gon hug him tighter to hold him still. "We're just going to give you medicine and water, okay? Nothing bad."

Killua relaxed slightly and felt another foreign object pressed to his lips once more.

"Drink slowly, the pills are inside the water." He didn't know whose voice that was he was hearing, and because of that clamped his mouth shut in distrust. "Gon?"

"Drink slowly Killua, please. I promise it's going to help."

He slowly opened his mouth and drank from the cup, feeling three small pebble-like objects as well. When he was done the cup was moved away. He felt himself start to be rocked from left to right very slowly, and his had drooped involuntarily. He was tired from this whole ordeal.

"Would you like to go to sleep?" he heard from behind, feeling himself be pulled backwards and lying with his back on what he assumed was his friend's chest.

He turned his head to the side and opened his eyes just slightly, barely making out the form of Gon's face. _"Is he crying?"_

His head was then softly pushed onto Gon's neck and his eyes drifted shut.

"It's alright, just go to sleep now. Please."

* * *

 

 

 

_**Age 14** _

_Killua shot up straight in bed, looking around frantically in the dark before he noticed the faint outline of his sleeping friend next to him. He ran a sweaty hand through his hair, flashes of the nightmare he just had running through his head. He tried to calm his breathing and squeeze his eyes shut to relax. Taking a deep breath he opened his eyes and looked down again, this time seeing Gon staring up at him with half-lidded eyes._

"Killua, what are you doing?" _he asked, rubbing an eye and propping himself up with the other arm._

"Nothing, go back to sleep," _he told the other softly, shoving the toy cat in between them into his face. He really didn't feel like telling someone he couldn't handle something as insignificant as a nightmare. Even if it was about past traumas._

 _Gon sat up in the bed and hugged Killua from beside, already knowing the problem._ "Was it your old family again?"

 _Killua nearly jumped out of his skin at the contact and sound of his voice, obviously more on edge than he initially believed._ "Y-yeah. I-I guess." _He mentally cursed at the frailty in his voice._

 _Gon squeezed his friend a little tighter to let him know he was safe now._ "They can't hurt you anymore, Killua."

"You don't know what they can do."

 _Gon frowned deeply at this statement._ "I don't _care_ what they can do. I won't let them do anything. I don't care if it kills me."

 _Killua hit the other on the back of the head for that._ "Don't talk like that."

 _The spiky-haired teenager rubbed the back of his head, still holding his friend with one arm._ "Sorry, but it's true. I would do anything for you, Killua." _Killua smiled at hearing this, and blushed a little when his friend nuzzled their head into the side of his neck._

"G-Gon-" _he tried, but was interrupted when he was pushed down onto his back with Gon's upper body sprawled across his._

"I'm actually really tired, Killua. Maybe like this the bad dreams will come to me instead of you," _Gon murmured, his face still buried in the crook of the other's neck._

_Killua gulped and stared down at the head of spiky hair. "That's so selfish, I don't want you to suffer for me..."_

_When he heard Gon's light snoring, he pulled the cover up to the lower one's neck and rested his chin on their forehead. Maybe some how this might make him feel safe during his sleep. He already felt better, though. A lot better._

_He woke up the next morning in the same position as last night, Gon still sprawled across him and having had no nightmares at all._

* * *

 

 

 

**Bonus: Gon's perspective**

Gon was sitting in the nurse's office waiting for Killua to wake up. He was currently talking to the nurse, Ms. Pitou while the intern watched over his friend. He would feel a little better if said intern was actually paying attention instead of reading a magazine, though...

Gon turned around in his chair to face the intern and asked, "So Mr. Paladiknight, how come you decided to become an intern here instead of at a hospital? Wouldn't it be better to go there if you want to become a doctor?"

"Yeah, but there were no positions open and I need medical experience of any type. So it was either here or bust."

Gon made an 'o' with his mouth before he turned back to Ms. Pitou. Mr. Paladiknight sounded grumpy and unfriendly today. "Do you think Killua is going to be okay?"

"Well, he certainly didn't seem in great condition when you two were brought in. I wouldn't worry about it though, it doesn't look too serious. I would tell him to just refrain from using any force with his bandaged hand and to keep ice on that bump on the back of his head. His head hit the ground pretty hard by the looks of it," she answered off-handedly, looking through some papers.

Gon sighed and slumped in his chair, sparing another glance at his still unconscious friend. The nurse took notice of this, and a small smirk played across her lips. "You seem to worry about him a lot. Are you two close?"

Gon looked at her curiously. Usually people knew that you couldn't spot one without the other. No Gon without Killua, and no Killua without Gon. "Yeah, we've been together since we were ten!"

"My, that's quite an early age to enter a relationship with someone," Ms. Pitou said while chuckling.

Gon's smile dropped instantly and his cheeks flared red. "W-wh-what? N-no! Not like that!" He waved his hands in front of himself frantically, obviously embarrassed. "I-I meant we've been living with each other since then! We're best friends, and we do everything together."

Ms. Pitou laughed a little harder, and even Mr. Paladiknight could be heard snickering in the back.

"Are you guys making fun of me?" Gon questioned, crossing his arms and pouting now.

"Nyah." Ms. Pitou's laughter died down. "You seem to care about him far more than you let on. Or maybe even more than you realize. Maybe you don't understand your own feelings?"

Gon looked down at the ground in thought, and then back over at his friend. "Well, I always felt like we had some kind of..connection. You know? I guess I might even find him..." He paused to look for the right word. "...cute? I don't know, do you two think I'm..in love? I don't know how to tell."

Gon looked to the ceiling in thought while Ms. Pitou and Mr. Paladiknight laughed softly at Gon's innocence, how he seemed to not be phased by such a topic that would embarrass anyone else.

"I think there's a very good chance of that, Mr. Freecss," Ms. Pitou answered.

Gon smiled at her and looked back at Killua, seeing his friend holding his head. "Ah! I think Killua is awake!"

Gon ran over and gripped the side of the small bed Killua was lying in, watching the other closely. "Ms. Pitou, I think he's in pain!"

"Seems we'll have to talk about your little situation another time, nyah?" She grabbed the glass of water she had waiting for him and dropped two painkillers in it, heading over to the rest of the group.

Gon grabbed the ice pack by the bed and pressed it against his friend's head to try to help the pain go away.

Ms. Pitou pressed the cup of water against his lips, telling him, "Drink slowly, okay?"

Gon saw the silver-haired teen clench his teeth and swat the cup clear across the room. He turned and looked to see where it went, hearing and seeing it crash and break against the wall, spilling its contents to the floor.

He looked back to his friend when he heard the other yell, and noticed Killua holding his bad hand protectively. "Killua! Stop! You need to calm down!"

Gon couldn't take the sight when his friend started thrashing about, eyes clenched closed as if in so much pain. He just looked to be in so much pain.

He felt a tear slip out of his eye, rolling down his cheek and falling off his chin. Then another tear. Another.

He bent down and threw his arms around the thrashing teen's neck and hugged him close, trying to stop his crying. He hated seeing his friend in such a state. He hated it so much.

"Does he need to go to a hospital?" Gon asked, looking up at the nurse yet refusing to let go of his friend.

"Nyah, I don't think so. He just needs to rest," Ms. Pitou answered. She pointed at Killua's slightly scrunched up face, "It looks like he can hear us now. See how he looks more alert?"

Gon loosened his hold on Killua and moved back some to try to see through the blurriness of his tears.

"Killua? It's me, Gon." Gon frowned and held Killua down when the other jerked upwards. He choked out, "No no, calm down. It's okay. You're safe, okay?"

Gon watched Killua try to open his eyes, and clamp them shut again, figuring he must be really sensitive to light right now. He let his friend go and hurried to sit on the bed behind him when he saw the other flailing around in a desperate search for him.

He threw one leg over the other side of the bed and sat behind Killua, wrapping his arms around him in a hug from behind. He tightened his hold when Killua began to pry at his arms, trying to pull them off of himself. Gon let out a sad, half-hearted laugh when Killua began to let out soft noises of warning. "Shhh Killua, It's okay. Everything is alright. I'm here, okay? Just calm down."

Gon leaned forward and rested his chin on his friend's shoulder, letting out soft 'shhh's and whispering that it was okay. Gon leaned his head to the side, resting his cheek on Killua's with tears still streaming down his face slowly. He couldn't stand seeing Killua like this.

_"I'm not going anywhere, I promise."_

Ms. Pitou looked over at the intern who looked ready to restrain the silver-haired teen in case of another outburst. "Mr. Paladiknight, will you get me another glass and three pills?"

The intern stood up and went to the medicine cabinet, pulling out the pill bottle and a new cup. Filling up the cup at the sink, he dropped three pills into the water and went to hand it off to the nurse.

Gon felt Killua's whole body tense up at the approaching footsteps of Ms. Pitou, and squeezed him in reassurance. "We're just going to give you medicine and water, okay? Nothing bad."

He felt Killua relax slightly, and looked up at the nurse to let her know it was alright. She pressed the cup to his lips once more, tilting it slightly. "Drink slowly, the pills are inside the water."

Gon felt Killua's cheek move as his jaw clenched shut, refusing to open his mouth.

"Gon?" Ms. Pitou questioned, wanting him to get the boy to open up.

"Drink slowly Killua, please. I promise it's going to help." _"I wouldn't let them anywhere near you if it wouldn't,'"_ he wanted to say.

Gon watched him drink the water and swallow the pills, beginning to rock him from left to right soothingly when Ms. Pitou took the cup away.

"Would you like to go to sleep?" Gon questioned, seeing his friend's head droop down.

He laid back against the wall that was at the head of the bed, pulling Killua back with him rather than waiting for any type of answer. When Killua turned his head and squinted at spiky-haired teen, Gon wiped his eyes of any remaining tears and pushed Killua's head down to let him rest. He didn't need to be straining himself right now.

When Killua closed his eyes, Gon whispered into his ear, "It's alright, just go to sleep now. Please."

He laid his head back against the wall and closed his own eyes. Seeing Killua in such a state had torn him up inside, and he wished to never see it again. He couldn't stand that feeling of helplessness, of not being able to do a thing. He was no longer crying, but he was exhausted from the entire ordeal.

Hopefully everything would be better when they wake up.


	20. Waking UpXDull PainXSickness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My oh my it took me a while. Decided to update my profile some in case anyone is interested about that.
> 
> I also wanted to get two fics out for Gon's birthday, so those took up some time. I actually planned on ending it soon, but people seem to be liking this story(much to my surprise) so I'm going to see what I can add in to keep it going some. You know, without throwing in random out of the blue stuff that would water down the story. We shall see where that takes us.
> 
> Anyway, here's a short[ish] chapter to let you know I didn't die or anything. Enjoy!

When Gon woke up, he rubbed an eye and tried to sit up straight, finding something holding him down. He waited a moment for his vision to clear before he looked down and saw Killua curled up on his side, lying against the other.

Gon smiled at the sight, and looked around the empty room. The lights were off and they were still in the nurse's office of the high school, but Mr. Paladiknight was missing. He looked over at the nurse's desk, and saw Ms. Pitou writing normally, as if the lights weren't even off.

There was some light seeping in from the window which had its blinds opened, faintly illuminating the room and Ms. Pitou's desk.

The teen yawned, not able to tell what time it was because of the onslaught of clouds blocking the sun and seeming to set the world's light in a monotone.

Ms. Pitou turned at the sound of the yawn, and noticed the boy just waking up. "Ah, good, you're both awake."

 _"Both?"_ Gon wondered, looking down at Killua, who still _seemed_ to be asleep. "I think he's still asleep, Ms. Pitou."

"Nyah. He woke up about 25 minutes ago and hasn't moved since. Mr. Paladiknight may not have noticed, but I did." Killua breathed in and sighed at said explanation.

"Why do you have to ruin it? Just leave me alone," the silver-haired teenager demanded, snuggling his head further into Gon's chest.

"Because this is a school nurse's office, not a place for couples to cuddle up and sleep," she explained without looking up from her papers. "I was nice enough to let you both stay instead of sending Mr. Freecss back to class, and even nice enough to turn off the light while you two rested. I could have sent you back when you woke up, too. So if we ever have another situation in the future, I'll remember that doing all that is ruining it."

Gon started petting the top of his friend's head when he heard the other suck in an angry breath, hoping to calm him. "He's just grumpy, Ms. Pitou. Don't mind him. We'll get ready to leave and get out of your way here in a minute."

Killua groaned at hearing this and shifted onto his other side.

"Nyah, no need for that, just stay quiet and out of my way. I don't want him straining himself. If you can manage that I don't care what you do. " She stopped writing and turned to look at the two of them. "Except for.. _that_ , obviously."

Killua sat up and squinted at her, finding it hard to glare at her when even the small amount of light from outside was in her direction.

"Calm down, Killua. Just try to go back to sleep." Gon pulled the other back down to him, cradling the silver-haired teen in his arms.

Grumbling, Killua reluctantly obliged and closed his eyes again. When Gon heard the telltale sound of Killua's light snoring he sighed and looked around the room. Lying his head back against the wall, he lost himself to his thoughts to try to pass the time he would have to spend doing nothing here. Even though he would much rather be doing something else, he was willing to stay here if it was for Killua.

He started to absentmindedly pet the other's head while staring up at the ceiling, deep in thought. After awhile he looked over at the nurse and, smiling, he asked, "Ms. Pitou, do you think you could describe 'love' to me?"

"No."

Gon deadpanned, "Thanks."

"No problem." She filed the vanilla folder she had been writing in and opened another, obviously engrossed in her work.

The teen looked at the window, watching the raindrops be blown into the window with evident force from the wind. A crack of thunder and a flash of lightning simultaneously went off, reminding the boy of himself and his friend for some odd reason.

He figured Killua must be the lightning. The silver-haired teen was very smart and therefore bright, fast like a flash and hair as silverish-white as the color of lightning itself.

So then he must be the thunder. Loud as the booming sound, strong like the thunder that shakes the very ground, impossible to go unnoticed and refusing to be without its lightning.

Gon looked down to the sleeping form lying on his stomach. The lightning to his thunder.

When another crack of thunder and flash of lightning went off, he blinked at the blue eyes glaring up at him. He hadn't even realized he had zoned off again.

"You're doing it again," Killua said, annoyance painting his tone. "Just like this morning on the bus." Gon averted his eyes to the side, embarrassed at the image of himself staring at Killua blankly he was imagining, but Killua cupped his cheek to bring his attention back. "Why? Is there something you want to tell me?"

Gon bit his bottom lip and grabbed the hand on his face. Pulling it away, he looked his friend in the eyes with a reassuring smile.. "I was just thinking about things, don't worry."

The silver-haired teen nodded and looked around the room. Now that he was able to see without feeling like his eyes would pop at any moment, he wanted to survey his surroundings. Upon noticing it was still raining, he looked up at the clock. It read 2:55, meaning he had slept for an hour and twenty minutes. School would let out in five minutes, but the buses would leave in twenty.

"We have to get ready to go soon, Gon. The buses are going to leave in twenty minutes." Killua tried to sit up, grabbing his head as it disagreed with his actions.

"We have time, Killua. Don't strain yourself," Gon warned the other, stretching his legs which had fallen asleep long ago. "It feels like there is glass in my skin..."

The now standing pale-skinned teenager was stumbling a bit as he took a few steps forward. Spotting his turtle and V-neck shirts on a chair next to his bed, he grabbed hold of them and put them back on.

Gon idly kicked his legs to bring the feeling back in them, trying to get rid of the pins and needles feeling, while watching his friend put on the two shirts. Gaining the feeling back in his legs, he stood up and stretched before heading over to turn the lights on.

Killua squinted some at the sudden burst of light, keeping them only some what open to alleviate the dull pain while his eyes adjusted. "You could have given me a warning first."

"Oh, right. Sorry," Gon apologized, scratching his cheek. "We're going to go ahead and go now, Ms. Pitou. Thank you for all your help and being so nice today!"

"Nyah." The nurse gave an absent wave of her hand to show she heard him before returning to writing in the folders.

They both left the nurse's office with Killua holding his head and stumbling slightly every so often. Gon walked close to him and let his hands hover around the silver-haired teen, just in case he started to fall. When they got to his locker, Killua pressed his back against the wall and slid down to the ground slowly.

"I feel like someone is poking my brain every few seconds," Killua said, fingering the bandages wrapped around his head. _"When did those get there?"_

Gon opened Killua's locker for him, having seen his combination enough to know it and putting stuff in his backpack for him. Noticing the other feeling the bandages the nurse had to put on when he was brought in, he softly swatted his hand away. "Don't take them off, we don't know if the back of your head is still bleeding or not."

"Tch. I wasn't taking them off." Killua crossed his arms, throwing his gaze to the side in petty anger at his hand being swatted. "Wait, what? My head was bleeding?"

Gon sighed, not too happy about the memory. "Yeah, when the dodge balls hit us I landed on my back. You landed on your head."

"I didn't get hit by a dodge ball..what are you talking about?" Killua looked up at him questioningly.

Gon froze up for a second, then pulled Killua's backpack out of his locker and closed it. "You must have hit your head pretty hard if you don't even remember."

He purposefully tried to avoid telling his friend about his 'condition' where he turns into a fighting machine. He didn't like it when that happened, and he didn't want the other to fret over it either.

"I'm going to go get my stuff out of my locker, I'll try to be quick, okay?" Gon said, resetting the combination on Killua's lock.

The other boy waved his hand dismissively, grabbing his backpack and leaned back against the wall. Closing his eyes, he tried to focus on the peace and quiet, hearing only the faint footsteps of his friend leaving.

Then the last bell of the day rang.

* * *

 

_**Age 14** _

"Achoo!"

"Could you at least not look in my direction when you sneeze?" _Killua asked the boy in bed._

_Gon had gotten sick over the weekend, evidently. From what? The silver-haired teen could not guess. He was currently busy trying to do his homework, sitting on the ground next to the bed._

"Thanks for keeping me company Killua," _Gon tried to say through a completely stuffed nose. He sneezed again, this time turning his head to the wall._

 _Killua looked up at the residue on the wall._ "I'm sleeping in the living room."

"But Killua!" _Gon protested, reaching for the pale-skinned teen who smacked his hand away roughly._

"Look, I want to keep you company and all but I'm kind of trying to _not_ get sick in the process." _He wiped the hand he hit Gon's with on the floor as if there was something disgusting on it._

 _Gon rolled over the edge of the bed and fell on the floor next to the other, grabbing him by the waist and hugging him._ "But Killua they're coming for meee! I need you to stay with me tonight so they won't come!"

 _That sparked his interest._ "Whose coming for you? What are you talking about?" _he asked worriedly, looking down at the sick boy in his lap._

"The..the fish..." _the spiky-haired teen answered, looking up at his friend, terror written all over his face._

 _Killua sighed and tried to shove Gon back with a hand to the forehead._ "You're getting delirious again."

"I know I'm serious!" _Gon said, fighting the hand on his forehead._

"No, _delirious_. Not _serious_. Now get off me!" _He dropped his homework on the floor and used both hands to start pushing at the boy clamped onto him._ "I need to get your medicine so you'll go back to your regular level of stupidity."

_Gon got frustrated at being insulted while just trying to sought after safety from the voices of all the fish he had fished out of the lake back at their country home. He finally let go of the other's waist and grabbed his hands, tearing them off his forehead and pulling him down. When they were nearly eye level, he looked up and let out a big sneeze right in the other's surprised face._

_Killua froze, repeating in his head 'He's sick and he doesn't know what he's doing' to keep from murdering the sick teen._

"Ehehe..kicked _your_ ass," _Gon declared triumphantly, letting out small giggles at his supposed 'win'._

 _Mito was stirring some rice on the stove when Killua stomped in, carrying Gon over his shoulder. He dropped the sick teen down on the floor in front of the red-head and stormed off yelling,_ "He's your problem now!"

_Mito looked down at Gon, confused about the situation._

"Aunt Mito..the fish are coming again."

 _She picked him up and helped him into a chair, hearing a loud sneeze from upstairs before a door slammed shut. She heard a sneeze from the boy upstairs before and after he yelled out,_ "Damn it GON!"

_She looked over to the boy idly kicking his legs and swinging from side to side in the chair, whistling a tune as if someone hadn't just cursed him. Sighing, she thought to herself..._

_"What am I going to do with you two?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't feel obligated to give a good comment, I accept good and bad alike, so don't hold back. Though I prefer any comment to none at all. Constructive criticism is very much welcomed.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	21. No BullyingXJust Gets WorseXOutbursts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still trying to figure out why I'm having such a mean streak with these two. But things should start getting better soon!
> 
> At some point...
> 
> Enjoy.

Killua groaned as all the students came flocking out of their classrooms, stampeding through the hallways and flocking around lockers. He had sat there for a good ten minutes before two guys stood in front of him.

"Hey punk, you're in the way," one of them sneered at him, taking a step forward.

"My head already hurts, can you stop making me look at your face so it'll hurt less?" Killua asked, glaring up at the one who spoke to him.

"You think just because you're good at dodge ball that you're untouchable?" the other retorted, also taking a step forward and clenching his fists.

"Oh gosh. My brain, it can't handle the sheer stupidity of both of you at the same time. _Please_ don't torment me by talking to me _more_!" the pale-skinned teen mocked, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes at them.

"You must think that we won't hurt you just because you already have bandages on," the first one remarked smugly. "Guess again."

He reeled his foot back to prepare to kick the silver-haired boy, who refused to even flinch. The second he started moving his foot forward he felt a hand on the back of his head, losing consciousness when his face was shoved forward and slammed into the lockers on the wall.

The second person turned around and backed up a few steps, catching sight of a fuming Gon. "W-whoa there. Look, I'll take him and go, okay?"

Gon glared at him as he slowly walked to his unconscious friend, watching him warily as he walked past Killua. When the guy was half way past Killua the pale-skinned teen kicked his foot out and tripped him, snickering.

He got up off the ground quickly, muttering another apology, and proceeded to drag his unconscious friend away.

As much as Gon wanted to slam that guy's face into the locker, too, he decided to just let them go rather than causing two bloody noses in one day.

After they were gone, the spiky-haired boy helped his friend stand up and asked if he was alright, bending down to grab their backpacks as well.

"You break his nose and ask if _I'm_ okay?" Killua asked incredulously.

"Well I was waiting for you to handle it." Gon stuck his tongue out in response and began walking down the hall slowly so his friend wouldn't have to try to keep up. "But when he was about to kick you everything kind of..turned red I guess."

Killua smirked as he walked beside the spiky-haired teen. "I didn't do anything because you were there. I figured why do the work if I can get you to do it instead?"

Gon frowned and punched his shoulder lightly. "Lazy."

"You realize at this pace we're probably going to miss the bus, right?" Killua warned him. "You might as well go ahead and catch them. I'll take my skateboard home or something."

Gon winced at the last bit, just remembering...

"Uh..I..kind of forgot your skateboard in your locker."

Killua stopped in the middle of the hallway, clenching his fists for a second before taking a deep breath. Another deep breath.

"That's," Killua sighed, trying to calm himself, "fine. I'll get it tomorrow."

They picked up their pace some, Killua's head feeling like it was pounding harder with every step. When they made it up to the doors to exit the school, they looked out the window and saw the bus door closing.

Gon kicked the door open and ran out into the still heavily pouring rain to try to stop the bus as it began driving away, but it was too late to stop it. He hung his head and sighed, a bout of thunder and lightning going off at the same time. He ran back to the school where the other was breathing deeply again. When he got to the doors, he began shaking his body, trying to get the rain water off.

"It's okay, Killua. We'll just call Aunt Mito for a ride home." Gon grabbed Killua's hand to try to help him calm down some. "But let's use one of the school phones, the storm has been messing up my phone's signal all day long."

The silver-haired teen kicked the door and muttered a 'Whatever' before turning to go to the nearest classroom.

Gon followed, upset at seeing his friend like this. He knew his silver-haired friend had a good control over his emotions the majority of the time, but he also knew that sometimes it just got to be too much. With a day like today, he didn't blame the other for showing anger, though.

When they finally found a classroom that was unlocked, they went in and shut the door. Killua went up to the teacher's desk to use the phone while Gon set their bags on the ground and leaned against the desk beside his friend.

Killua dialed in the number for where Mito worked, and tapped his fingers on the desk as it rang.

No answer.

He clenched his fist and dialed again, letting it ring once more.

No answer.

"Killua."

He dialed again, pressing the buttons a little more aggressively and letting it ring again.

"Killua, stop."

No answer.

Killua picked up the phone and threw it across the classroom, tearing the wire out of the wall. When it collided against the wall and broke into pieces he kicked over one of the student desks, wanting to punch something so badly.

"Killua stop!" Gon yelled at the other, shocked at the sudden outburst.

"No! I'm sick of this day!" Killua turned on his heels and glared daggers at the spiky-haired teen. "Everything has gone wrong from the moment I woke up to now and I'm _fucking sick of it_!"

He flipped over another desk and kicked the chair in front of it. He was about to go for a another chair when a pair of hands grabbed his wrists and turned him around. He glared down at the barely shorter teen in front of him, who was holding his wrists tightly to keep him from causing anymore damage.

"Killua, stop it. I know today hasn't been good, but it will only get worse if you let it get to you," Gon told him, staring into the dangerously glinting eyes of his friend.

"Don't act like none of this is _your_ fault, either." Killua tore his wrists out of the spiky-haired teen's hands, pointing an accusing finger at him. "If it wasn't for _you_ I wouldn't have a probably broken hand. I would remember whatever the hell happened in gym class that I can't remember. I wouldn't have these dumb bandages on my head. I wouldn't have this fucking headache that just keeps getting worse, and I would have my skateboard right now!"

Gon stared at the ranting teen sadly. He knew the other was just spouting things in anger and wasn't truly mad at him specifically, but...

Hearing all that still hurt so much.

Killua saw the hurt in his eyes when Gon turned to leave the room and just realized what he had done, too little too late. He stood there, completely dumbfounded, for a while before he snapped out of it and ran out of the room.

* * *

 

  
_**Age 14** _

 

_Crash._

"Killua wait!"

_Crash._

"Stop! Don't!"

"Shut UP!" _Another crash._

_Mito had gone on a business trip and Granny was staying at a friend's house for the day, leaving the boys to take care of themselves for the afternoon._

_Killua was pretty angry today._

_Gon ducked as another plate flew directly over his head and crashed into the wall, turning his head to see the shattered remains hit the floor. He looked for his friend, who was about to flip over the dining room table, and ran towards him once spotted. The spiky-haired teen grabbed hold of the pale wrists and pinned them behind the back of the other._

"Killua, calm down! I know you're mad, but this _isn't_ the way to handle it!" _Gon felt hypocritical for some unknown reason, saying something like that._

 _Killua struggled to get out of the other's grip, trying to think of ways to get away without hurting either of them._ "I really don't care right now, Gon. Let me go or I'm going for _your_ stuff next."

"Fine! Take it out on my stuff! Just don't break everyone else's!" _Gon turned him around, letting go of his wrists and pointing to the stairs leading to their room._

_They both glared at each other, Killua seething and Gon frustrated. Gon won out in the end, though, as Killua huffed and stomped to the couch. The spiky-haired boy following close behind incase the other had another outburst. When the pale-skinned teen plopped down on the couch and crossed his arms, he glared at the other in front of him._

" _What_? I'm not going to break anything. Leave me alone." _Killua rested one arm on his leg, the other on the armrest and his cheek on his fist._

 _Gon sighed and sat on the couch next to his friend. Lying on his side he lifted the hand on Killua's leg and laid his head under it, letting it drop on the side of his head and closing his eyes._ "I know you're mad, Killua, but it'll be okay."

 _Killua gazed down at the other in his lap, blushing some when the teen's breath made contact with his shirt and warmed his stomach._ "W-whatever."

_Gon opened his eyes at the small stutter and looked up at his friend, smiling when he saw the blush. He didn't know what he did, but figured Killua must be calming down if his mind is clear enough to get flustered._

_He blushed harder at the smile directed towards him and looked away. When he moved his foot on the ground he ended up kicking something, and leaned forward to look down._

"K-Killua! I can't breathe!" _Gon yelled through the shirt pressed against his face._

 _Killua ignored him and leaned further to pick the object up off the ground and hold it in front of himself._ "Here it is!"

_Sitting back up straight he hugged his skateboard while Gon sucked in a breath through his mouth._

_Gon looked a little confused after getting some air. Then he sniffed the air repeatedly, and lifted Killua's shirt, planted his nose against the other's stomach._

"W-wh-what the h-hell are you _doing_?!" _Killua dropped his skateboard on the ground in shock and tried to shove the other back._

 _Gon pushed his head forward to fight the force pushing it back, breathing in deep._ "Killua! I never knew you smelled so good!"

_The silver-haired teen clamped his index and middle finger on the other's nose and slapped a hand over his mouth. He clamped harder when the boy started struggling, giving out muffled yells and screams._

"Mmf! MMMMFFF!" _Gon tried desperately to scream, pulling at the arms and kicking at the air._

_Then the pale-skinned boy felt something wet run across his hand, and pulled back instantly to inspect his palm. He looked at the drool that completely covered his palm and stared at the boy in his lap incredulously._

"Did you just _lick_ my fucking hand?!"

 _Gon grinned, breathing through his mouth as the other hand was still clamped around his nose, preventing him from breathing through there._ "You _taste_ good, too."

_Killua shoved the spiky-haired teen out of his lap and onto the floor, stopping himself short of kicking the laughing boy when he landed._

"Hey look, your skateboard. I told you no one stole it," _Gon commented, picking it up and getting off the ground._

 _Killua stood up and snatched it out of the other's hand, putting it under his arm and looking around at the destruction he caused._ "Guess I sure made a mess over it, huh?"

"Aunt Mito always says if you love something enough, you'll do anything to get it back even if you should let it go," _Gon said, grabbing Killua's hand and grinning._ "That's why I would go to the ends of the earth for you, Killua!"

"D-don't say stuff like that!" _The pale-skinned teen's cheeks flushed completely red, ripping his hand out of the other's._

"But it's true!" _Gon took a step closer._ "Plus now I know you smell _and_ taste good!"

_Killua felt like he was going to die. Ducking down behind his bangs, he turned on his heels and practically speed-walked to the stairs to shit himself away from the other in their room._

_Gon giggled at his friend's reaction, and looked around at the mess, figuring it could wait as Granny would not be back until tonight and Aunt Mito would not be back for a few days._

_The door swung open and Mito walked in, carrying some luggage with her through the fog outside. She stopped half-way through the door and looked around the chaotic disaster that was her living room, with Gon standing directly in the middle of all of it._

_Gon's head snapped to her direction, and he began waving his hands frantically in front of himself._ "W-w-wa-wait, Aunt Mito, it's not what you think!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't feel obligated to give a good comment, I accept good and bad alike, so don't hold back. Though I prefer any comment to none at all. Constructive criticism is very much welcomed.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	22. Making UpXMoving OnXFirst Tears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I got a little too cliche in here, but I don't know...
> 
> Regardless, hope you all enjoy.

Killua ran through the hallways to look for his friend, running into Razor at some point.

"Mr. Razor! Have you seen Gon?"

Razor jabbed his thumb to one of the school's exits behind himself. "Just left a few minutes ago. He looked pretty down, too. Did something happen?"

Killua ignored his question and ran for the door, pushing past it and looking around the school yard. It was still pouring from the storm, thunder and lightning going off every so often.

Killua looked up at the bleak, grey sky. Strangely he noticed that while the thunder and lightning had been in sync all day long, there was now no thunder going off anymore.

Where had the lightning's thunder gone?

Gon walked through the town solemnly, looking around the empty streets. While normally full of people, it would be understandable that it be empty on a day such as today. No one in their right mind would be out today.

Too bad he wasn't in his right mind right now.

While he normally wouldn't let anything said really get to him, it wasn't even what was said. That was no problem. The problem was _who_ said it.

He looked up at the sky to look for the thunder and lightning that had been inseparable all day, only just noticing that there was plenty of thunder but no longer any lightning in sight.

He guessed that made him feel a little better, knowing that he wasn't the only one who lost his own lightning. Though he still had to wonder...

Why was the thunder's lightning not here right now?

The silver-haired teen ran down the sidewalks as fast as he could, heading out of the school's neighborhood and towards town. He knew the other would be trying to stay away now, so home would most likely be the last place he ran off to. He had an idea that the park would probably be the first place to look.

As he got into the town area he looked around while heading towards the park. He noticed the streets and sidewalks were almost empty, save for a few running by with umbrellas and some driving home rather than waiting out the storm wherever they previously were.

He glanced into alleyways, between buildings, inside windows and around the sidewalks. When he got to the park he noticed the familiar head of spiky hair, dampened down by the rain, sitting under a thick tree and being shielded from any more rain that might try to fall on him by the many leaves and branches. He was sitting with his knees against his chest, arms resting on top of his knees and head buried in his arms.

"Hey." Killua walked up to the other, taking cover under the leaves and sitting beside him.

Gon didn't answer, but only pressed his face deeper into his arms.

He had expected Killua to go home, not come looking for him. He felt compelled to come here because it was the closest, most naturalistic place he could think of at the time and being around nature usually made him feel better.

Killua slowly draped an arm over the other's shoulder, pulling him closer and resting his cheek on top of the soaked spiky head of hair. "I'm sorry, Gon."

"You didn't have to come looking for me," Gon said, muffled by his arms. "Should have just gone home."

"I only have that home because of you."

Gon raised his head at that, searching and confused. "You wouldn't have had as much of a bad day if it weren't for me, either."

"I wouldn't have ever had anything close to a good day without you." Killua leaned forward, pressing their foreheads together and touching their noses. It was only then that he noticed the other's slightly puffy eyes, and figured he must have cried at some point today. "I didn't mean anything I said earlier, I was just mad and you were the closest thing to take it out on. My hand? My fault, I shouldn't have tried to hit you anyways. My head? We just went too far, I guess. Both of us. My skateboard? I wouldn't even have that skateboard if _you_ hadn't given it to me in the first place. I wouldn't have a home, or a family. I would still be in that orphanage, hiding away from everyone and not knowing that some people in the world are actually worth the time of day."

The spiky-haired boy smiled at hearing all that, turning to the side to hug his friend and bury his face in the crook of the pale-skinned boy's neck. "Thanks, Killua."

"I also wouldn't..have you." He hugged the other back, resting his chin on top of his head. "And I would absolutely hate that. I'd rather have been tortured for all those years and met you than have my old family love me."

Gon pulled his head back and looked the silver-haired teen in the eyes. He noticed that Killua was blushing and looking away at saying something like that. With both of their faces as close as they were, he figured now would be as good a time as ever to try his luck.

"Killua."

Killua looked at his friend, and his eyes widened in shock when upon turning he immediately felt the lips of the other on his. He stared wide-eyed and frozen at Gon who had his eyes closed.

After a few moments of getting no response, Gon pulled away and looked at the wide-eyed teenager in front of him. He felt his chest tighten in fear, believing he may have just done something he really shouldn't have.

"I..I'm sorry. I thought..well, actually I didn't really think that through. At all."

"You don't ever really think anything through much," Killua commented, averting his gaze and blushing profusely.

Gon scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "U-um..did you want to-"

He got cut off when Killua cupped his face in both hands and kissed him, giving him his turn for a wide-eyed pause. After a moment he started to return the kiss, but only got to for a second as the silver-haired teen pulled away rather quickly with a red face.

"W-we should get going," Killua said, still not looking his companion straight in the eyes. "You know, before we get sick or something."

"Yeah, I guess so." Gon smiled wide at the other, knowing that was probably the closest he'd get to a confession at the moment. "So how did you know I was here?"

"You like nature a lot, and it's the only place that really has trees and stuff around here. Plus I know you," Killua answered, standing up and offering a hand to help the other up. He examined the other's slightly puffy eyes when Gon stood up and questioned sadly, "I didn't make you cry, did I?"

Gon examined his friend, confused at the self-accusation. He had cried in the nurse's office, but didn't really blame the other for that. It was not like Killua was in his right mind at the time. He _felt_ like crying while he was out in the rain, but hadn't actually done so recently.

"No, why do you think that?" Gon asked.

"Your eyes are still a little red and puffy." Killua pointed at the boy's face, his eyes more specifically. "That's a sign that a person has cried. I caused it, didn't I?"

"What?" Gon brought a hand up to his face, feeling across his eyes. "Oh. Yeah, but it wasn't your fault. You were freaking out in the nurse's office and it scared me really bad, so I don't blame you."

Killua gave a small sigh of reprieve, happy that his outburst back at the school was not the catalyst. He had only ever seen his friend cry once, and would pay money to never see it again.

"Want to go to that restaurant across the street?" Gon asked after a long bout of silence.

Upon seeing Killua nod, he began walking side-by-side with the other. When he noticed the pale-skinned teen dig his hands into his pockets, Gon shoved one of his hands into Killua's pocket to hold his hand.

Killua looked over, surprised at the action. Cheeks tinted slightly pink he continued onward, both walking at a leisurely pace even while the rain beat down on them. On their way across the street they both looked up to the sky and noticed a streak of lightning light up the sky at the same time a boom of thunder was heard.

_"Hey, the thunder got its lightning."_

_"Guess the lightning found its thunder."_

* * *

_**Age 14** _

 

_Killua and Gon walked through the front door to their house, laughing about something that happened on the way home from school. When they noticed Mito sitting on the couch with her head down and crying, they dropped their backpacks and ran to her side._

"Aunt Mito, what's wrong?" _Gon asked worriedly, crouching down in front of her._

 _She looked up at her nephew, and over at the silver-haired teen sitting beside her._ "Boys, I have some terrible news."

_She gestured for them to follow her as she went up the stairs. They walked down the hallway past their bedrooms and stopped in front of Granny's room. When she opened the door, she took a step aside and let the two walk in to see Granny lying in bed._

"Aunt Mito..I know it's the afternoon and all, but if Granny wants to take a nap just let her. I think you're kind of overreacting," _Gon said, frowning at his aunt._

 _Killua looked away from the bed, already understanding what had happened._ "Gon, she isn't asleep."

"Huh?" _Gon turned around and looked at his friend, confused._ "What do you mean?"

 _Killua grabbed the other by the shoulders, turning him to face him._ "Gon..she's dead."

_The spiky-haired boy's head snapped around to look at the bed, harboring a look of utter disbelief. He looked at his friend, then back at the bed again. Slapping Killua's hands away, he turned around and started after the bed._

"That's not funny, Killua. Don't joke about that, ever."

"Gon, don't." _The pale-skinned boy grabbed Gon from behind and held him back._ "Come on, let's go."

_Gon struggled to get out of the other's grip as he got pulled out of the room. He stared at Granny's still face as Mito shut the door, tears starting to stream down his face as realization hit him like a truck._

_Killua dragged the still struggling spiky-haired teen into their room, shutting the door with his foot and locking it before letting the him go. He slapped away Gon's hand when the other immediately went for the door knob, putting his back against the door to stop him._

"Killua MOVE!" _Gon yelled, trying desperately to get past his friend._

 _The silver-haired teen grabbed his companion by the wrists to try to hold him still, looking into his eyes._ "Gon, I'm sorry. I feel just as bad, but we can't do anything about it. This just happens."

_Gon tried to pull his wrists out of the grip, but only ended up collapsing to his knees. The pain in his chest was too much to bear at the moment._

"I don't CARE! She wouldn't just die like that! _LET ME GO_!" _Gon screamed at him._

"Gon..." _Killua slid down the door to sit on the floor, pulling the spiky-haired boy into him and embracing him, tears beginning to form in his eyes as well._ "...I know it hurts, but you need to calm down. Come here."

_Gon struggled less violently for a while longer before he gave in and buried his face into his friend's chest. He screamed out into Killua's shirt and wrapped his arms around the other's torso._

_The tears started streaming down his face as he watched his friend break down in his arms, wanting nothing more than to take all the pain away. He hugged the sobbing and screaming teen tighter, rubbing soothing circles on his back and telling him everything would be okay._

"Just let it all out, Gon. Just let it all out..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't feel obligated to give a good comment, I accept good and bad alike, so don't hold back. Though I prefer any comment to none at all. Constructive criticism is very much welcomed.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	23. Generous BlondeXClosenessXGet Along

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone for their kudos and comments, and sorry for taking a while to update.
> 
> Enjoy!

The pair stopped under the awning above the door, looking themselves over.

"I'm not so sure they'll let us in like this..." Gon said, peeling his coat arms off his skin.

"Well, maybe if Knuckle is working today. He works here doesn't he?"

The spiky-haired teen shook his head. "Mmm..no. He works in the place on the other side of town. Kurapika works here."

"Who?" Killua looked genuinely confused.

"Kurapika..the blonde who likes to wear red contacts sometimes." Gon thought for a second, then sighed. "The guy who you refuse to believe is a boy..."

"OH! Yeah! I remember her."

" _Him_ ," Gon corrected.

"Yeah, whatever. Think she can get us inside? Or maybe a ride home." Killua took his soaked wallet out of his pocket and looked through it. "I don't think we have any money to get food at a place like this at the moment..."

"As long as you don't talk and get him to kick us out..." Gon mumbled, taking his hand out of his friend's pocket to look through his own wallet.

"I would do no such thing!" the pale-skinned teen said, looking quite offended at such an accusation. "It's not my fault people can't handle the blunt truth."

Gon gave a devious smile at the last statement, elbowing his companion softly. "You know, some days you can kind look like a girl also."

" _Excuse_ me?"

"Yeah." Gon held back a laugh, moving some of his friend's hair out of his face to get a better look. "Today you sort of do, especially with your hair down because of the rain."

"Shut up!" Killua smacked the offending hand away. "You're full of it."

"You're funny, Killua!" The spiky-haired boy hugged his friend, laughing at his antics. "But you'd be a very pretty girl. Beautiful, even."

The silver-haired teen hid his face in his hands, mumbling, "Kill me now..."

"I think you'd look really pretty in a dress, too. Probably a blue one though."

Killua pushed the other off himself, borderline stomping into the restaurant, while Gon laughed and followed him inside. As they got inside, the host practically ran from behind his podium to the pair to stop them from going any further.

"No, you can't come in here soaking wet like that. You'll ruin our seats and carpet!"

"We aren't interested in your stupid fancy food, we're looking for someone," Killua informed him, pushing past the man.

The man grabbed the back of the pale-skinned boy's shirt and started pulling him backwards. "No! I can't let you in here, you'll have to come back when you're dry."

"How about I just ring you-"

" _Anyways_ ," Gon interrupted his friend. "We just need to see Kurapika, if you could bring him here or something? Please?"

The host stared at them for a moment before turning to go. "Very well, but you and the violent girl _must_ wait here."

Gon grabbed his friend around the waist from behind as Killua shot forward, obviously intending to harm the departing host. When the other's struggling ceased, he reluctantly let go and kept his arms out in case the silver-haired teen made a run for the man. When he took a step forward, the spiky-haired boy's arms automatically clamped around his waist.

"Wha-Gon! I'm just moving over there!" Killua peeled the arms around him away and walked over to lean on a wall. "Geez, calm down."

"Maybe I just wanted a hug," Gon said, sticking his tongue out.

Killua showed obvious disbelief, but didn't press the matter any further as his friend came to stand next to him.

After a few more moments of waiting, Kurapika came walking into the entryway with a couple of towels.

"Hello Gon." Kurapika waved at him happily, then sent a glare in the other's direction and taking on a spiteful tone. "Killua."

Killua opened his mouth to say something, but was silenced when Gon slapped a hand over it and interrupted him. "Hey Kurapika! Thanks for seeing us!"

"Of course. Is there something you needed or did you just want to come visit again?" The blonde smiled at him and handed a towel to each of them to dry off with.

"Actually..if you could give us a ride home, that'd be nice. We kind of missed our bus and can't get a hold of Aunt Mito," Gon explained, removing his hand from his friend's mouth and taking a towel.

"Well..I don't get off for another few hours, and I can't leave early. But I can give you my umbrella for the day if you bring it back tomorrow."

Gon's smile dropped some, wanting to get home as soon as possible. "I guess that works. You wouldn't happen to have any extra clothes or something, would you?"

"No, sorry, but you could borrow my rain poncho for today. Just bring that back tomorrow as well," Kurapika offered. "I only have the one though, but it should be big enough for both of yo-"

"No," Killua answered immediately.

"I still don't know what your problem was that day..." Gon said, glaring at his friend.

The silver-haired teen could remember it very clearly. The two of them getting in yet another fight over something, and Aunt Mito trying something new that she heard from someone at work.

 _"The 'Get Along' shirt,"_ he thought in his head, shivering at the thought.

Killua took the towel he was using to dry his hair off his head. "We're definitely not going through something like that again."

The blonde looked at them strangely for a moment, then turned to go get the umbrella from the back. "Alright, I'll be right back with the umbrella then."

When he left, the two began trying to towel their clothes dry as best they could. While they remained soaked, they got them to stop dripping. When Kurapika came back into the entryway with the umbrella and took the towels, Killua eyed the object incredulously.

"Are you joking? This thing is tiny," the silver-haired teen complained, opening it a little to see it was a one person tool.

"Because it's meant for one person, and it's all I have," the blonde explained, making to take it back. "But sense you don't want it-"

"No, no! It's great!" Gon interrupted, blocking the hand and beginning to push his friend out of the building. "Really, thanks Kurapika. We'll bring it back tomorrow, I promise!"

Walking back under the awning above the entrance of the restaurant, Killua opened the umbrella and stared at it once more.

"This thing is so tiny," he complained, giving it a look of disgust. "How are we both supposed to fit under it?"

Gon took the umbrella out of his hands, raising it up and pressing their sides together. With a smile he answered, "Like this, of course."

Killua tensed up at the sudden contact, then relaxed and shoved his hands in his pockets. After a pause they started walking as he mumbled, "I guess."

The spiky-haired teen held the umbrella with both hands. While the wind wasn't too strong, he didn't want to risk a sudden strong wind that could blow their protection away. He glanced over at his friend every so often, making sure he got enough of the umbrella to keep from getting anymore wet than they already were.

After a while of walking down the sidewalk Gon decided to test his, what he believed, 'newfound boundaries' a bit and planted a small kiss on the other's cheek. He could feel the other tense up immediately, and carefully watched him pull a hand out of his pockets to feel his face.

"What was that?" he asked, examining his palm as if he had rubbed something off his cheek and couldn't figure out what it was.

"It was a kiss." Gon gave him a confused look. "You do know what that is, right?"

Killua frowned at him, wanting to smack him upside the head. Attemping to make himself more clear he asked, "I meant why did you do it?"

"Because," Gon answered while smiling now, looking forward again. "I love you, and now I know I can show it without anything bad happening!"

Killua's face turned light pink at that. He opened his mouth to say something, but didn't want to ruin the moment and just looked forward. Instead of dropping his hand back in his pocket though, he let it snake around his companion's waist while refusing to look over for his reaction.

Gon looked down at the arm around his waist, letting his smile grow and pressing himself closer to his friend.

* * *

 

_**Age 14** _

_Mito walked through the door, her first sight of the inside of the house being a few broken plates and Gon and Killua rolling around on the floor grappling each other._

_"Perfect," she thought to herself, dropping her work bag at the front door and rummaging through it._

_At hearing their names being called, both boys stopped trying to strangle each other long enough to look at Mito. They looked curiously at the ridiculously oversized shirt she was holding up with the words 'Get Along' on it._

"I don't think that's quite your size, Mito," _Killua said, kicking his friend off of himself._

"It's not for me, it's for you two. Go upstairs and put it on, we're trying something new. Every time you both fight, you'll both have to wear this shirt," _she explained. Upon seeing their blank expressions she added on,_ "Together. At the same time I mean."

_That elicited the reaction she wanted, seeing their eyes widen. She tossed the shirt to them and pointed to the stairs._

"Aren't we a little old for stuff like this?" _Gon questioned, looking the shirt over with obvious disdain._

"Obviously not, seeing how you both like to fight over the smallest things. Now go." _She pointed to the stairs again._

_They both slumped their shoulders and head in defeat, mumbling as they shuffled towards the stairs. When they got to their room, Gon peeled his tank top off and pulled the oversized shirt on._

"Why did you take _your_ shirt off?" _Killua questioned, watching him curiously._

"Well..I figured she wouldn't tell us to come up here and put it on if she didn't want us to do that," _the spiky-haired boy answered. He looked down and examined the shirt before asking,_ "That makes sense, doesn't it?"

 _Killua gave a small 'Hmm', holding his chin in thought._ "It's dumb, but..yeah, I guess that makes sense."

_The silver-haired teen removed his own tank top and got into the shirt next to his friend. They looked themselves over, seeing the shirt stopping just past their knees, and put one arm out of their respective sides. Killua had his left arm out while Gon had his right arm out, leaving their other arms inside._

_The pair awkwardly attempted to walk out of the room, having to get used to trying not to trip over each other's feet. When they got to the top of the stairs they stopped completely and looked down them. Glancing at their feet, they decided that this would be counted as a deadly trap for them._

"You first," _Gon said, gesturing for the other to go._

"..." _Killua stared at him ludicrously._ "Are you blind? We have to go at the same time, idiot."

_The spiky-haired teen gave a small whine, looking down the stairs once more. They both took a slow step forward, then another step. Feeling safe and confident, they proceeded as normal and ended up tripping over each other._

_Mito turned her attention from her book to the stairs behind her as the two came tumbling to the bottom, yelling on their way down._

"Good! Now, you both have to keep that on until it's time to go to bed. Then you're allowed to take it off," she explained. "Not a moment sooner, and no exceptions!"

_Gon and Killua gave each other a look, then turned back to her._

"So if someone threatens to harm us if we don't take it off, refuse. Got it!" _Killua said, grinning and giving her a thumbs up._

_She frowned at him, clearly not amused._

"But..what if we have to use the bathroom?" _Gon asked._

 _Mito went back to reading her book, answering idly,_ "Up until last year neither of you had a problem bathing with each other, and some times still do, so the bathroom shouldn't be a problem."

_They both gave each other another look, then went to the kitchen to get away from the woman who they believed had probably lost her marbles._

_With some effort in trying not to trip again, they made their way into the kitchen and opened the fridge._

"Move, I can't see," _Killua ordered, shoving past the other._

 _Gon shoved him back, then yelped when he felt his side being pinched._ "Killua! That hurts!"

"That's kind of the point. Now move over."

_Gon fumed a little, but let it slide this time. Seeing nothing of interest in the refrigerator he pulled back until he was jerked forward again, forgetting that he had to wait for the other now._

"Hurry up Killua," _he chided, wanting to go do something already._

 _The silver-haired boy grabbed some grapes and shut the door, huffing into his friend's face._ "It's not like we have anywhere to be or anything."

_Gon frowned and started walking away, practically dragging the other with him to the stairs. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs, staring up at the top. Giving each other another look, they sighed and took the slow first step again._

_After a while of slow steps, they got to the top and made their way to their room. Upon entering the bedroom, they shut the door and sat on the floor in front of the television._

_Gon looked around for the remote while Killua slipped his arm into the shirt and start eating grapes from the neck hole. When the spiky-haired teen found the remote on the floor but out of his reach, he reached over for it and the shirt pulled the other with him._

_The pale-skinned boy went tumbling to the side and landed on top of his friend, sending his grapes everywhere inside the shirt._

"Gon!" _Killua yelled in frustration Poking his head inside the neck hole and looking around at all his poor, scattered grapes._ "Now I have to gather them all up, geez."

_Gon apologized as he grabbed the remote, then felt something tickling his side and stomach. He started laughing, swinging his arms and legs at whatever was moving across his body._

_Killua was moving around inside the shirt trying to gather up all his grapes, often having to get one or two that was right next to his friend and completely oblivious to the fact his hair was tickling the other's side and stomach. When the teen started flailing about, a knee ended up connecting to the silver-haired boy's chin, causing him to bite his cheek and freeze in pain. He calmly took a deep breath, trying to will the pain away, then dropped his grapes and reached across to twist his friend's nipples painfully._

"AHHH!" _Gon's laughter disappeared immediately, and he grabbed at the hands twisting his buds. Trying desperately to peel them off, he yelled out at the other,_ "KILLUA! That _HURTS_! Stooop!"

_Satisfied with his payback he let go of the spiky-haired boy, gathering his grapes up again and popping out of the neck hole glared at the boy massaging his abused buds._

"That's for kneeing me in the chin and making me bite my cheek."

_Gon stuck his tongue out at the other, reaching for the remote and beginning the channel surf. He paused on the cartoon channel, moved on to the movie channel, continued to the nature channel and ended up pausing on some soap opera channel when he caught sight of a couple making out on the screen before him._

_Killua looked up at the screen when he heard the sounds being made by the couple, his eyes widening at the sight and spitting out a couple of grapes. He looked over at his friend completely confused, wondering why he would be interested in watching this, and saw him staring at the screen with rapt attention._

_"What the hell is he doing?" the silver-haired teen wondered, looking back at the screen and feeling the usual funny feeling he felt when he woke up from his dreams of his friend._

_Gon stared at the screen, wondering what the pair were doing. It took him a moment to realize they were doing what he usually dreamed about with the boy beside him, and watched even closer to try to decipher what exactly that meant._

_Killua closed his eyes and covered his ears, not wanting to be here right now. The sight before him, along with the close proximity and combined heat of the two, caused the small rising in his pants as the thoughts of him and his friend in that position invaded his mind. He wanted to get away from the other immediately._

_Still hearing the sound leaking through his hands into his ears, he tried to stand up to leave. When he got pulled back down, he remembered that they were still 'attached' at the moment and started shaking the other by the shoulder to get his attention._

"Just a second, Killua," _Gon said, not looking away from the screen._

 _"Why the hell is he so interested in this?!" Killua wondered, wanting to rip his hair out in frustration. He calmed his voice to not give away his distressed demeanor before asking,_ "Why do you even care about this?"

"Because we-" _Gon started, cutting himself off before he talked about them doing it in his head._ "-weird things like this happen all the time and I want to know what it means." _Not exactly a lie._

_The pale-skinned boy covered his red face in his hands, knowing there was probably no way he was going to get out of this now that his stubborn friend had decided on something. Now that he had decided on it, it would become his life's mission until the objective is complete._

_Killua felt like he was burning all over. When he tried to hide his head inside the shirt, he noticed the now obvious tent in his shorts and decided to make their television disappear later in the night. Gon and Mito would just think it was stolen._

"Alright, sorry. What did you need..Killua?" _he asked, pausing at the sight of his friend practically curled into a ball inside the shirt. He had wondered why the piece of clothing kept stretching further away from himself. Reaching over to shake the other, he gently asked,_ "Killua? What's wrong?"

 _Killua smacked the hand touching his shoulder away harshly, mumbling into the shirt,_ "Don't touch me."

_Gon frowned at this reaction, believing he had done something wrong. Did he miss something important that was too late to deal with while he was watching the scene?_

"But Killua, I like touching you," _he replied sadly._

_That was the last straw. He had to get away before he threw himself at the other._

_He grabbed the shirt collar in the middle, but stopped himself from tearing the article of clothing in half when he realized that would leave his problem exposed. Instead he let it go and motioned for Gon to follow him as he stood up._

_When they got downstairs the silver-haired teen stopped them in front of Mito as she was still reading her book. She looked up from the literature and eyed them suspiciously._

"I need out of this thing. _Now_ ," _Killua demanded._

 _She raised her eyebrow at him questioningly before looking back down to her book._ "I told you no exceptions."

"I don't think you understand the seriousness of this situation, Mito," _Killua tried, crossing his arms under the shirt._

"Are you bleeding?" _she asked after a sigh, closing and putting down her book._

"Well, no."

"Are you in pain?" _she crossed her arms and gave him a cross look._

"Yes." _Not a total lie._

_She looked more worried now, and made a grab for the shirt. Killua jumped back at the action, throwing and arm out of his sleeve and holding the hem of the shirt down._

"N-no. It's uh, mental pain. He's driving me insane," _he said, giving her a frightened look._ "I just need to..get out of this shirt. I need some space."

_Mito looked at his slightly reddened face, then over at her nephew who looked well beyond confused at the situation. Sighing, she decided that maybe this punishment wouldn't be best for them._

"Alright then, you can take the shirt off," _she relented, then pointed towards Killua._ "But you have to sleep on the couch tonight for not being able to handle it."

 _Killua gave a small whine at that, but quieted when Mito gave him a challenging look._ "Yes, ma'am."

_The red-head nodded and dismissed them. Killua ducked out from the shirt and ran up the stairs as fast as he could to prevent anyone from catching sight of anything._

_Later that night the pale-skinned boy was stretched out on the sofa in the dark, Mike lying on the floor next to him. He was having some trouble sleeping tonight, and knew what the reason probably was._

_He sighed dramatically and rolled over, throwing the covers over his head and curling up in a small ball to try to get comfortable. When he felt something prod him in the back, he threw his hand back to blindly swat at the person._

"Go back to bed, Gon."

"No, I want to sleep with you. Mito said you had to sleep in here, but she didn't say I had to do anything," _Gon rebuffed, shaking his head even though he knew the other couldn't see him._ "Move over."

_Killua turned his head and stared at the boy in the dark. He really didn't want to deal with this tonight, even though he didn't want to sleep alone either._

_Gon didn't wait for an answer from the other. He chose instead to lift his friend up and lie on the couch, dropping the pale-skinned teen on top of him and hugging him._

_Killua was shocked to say the least. He didn't believe he was going to win the argument against his hard-headed friend, but did not expect something like that to happen._

"W-what the hell are you doing?"

"Well you probably weren't going to move, and I wanted to sleep with you." _Gon squeezed him a little and smiled, closing his eyes._ "So I thought this would be fine."

 _Killua opened his mouth, ready to argue, but thought against it and just rested his head on the other's chest._ "Whatever."

"What did I do to make you mad today, by the way?" _Gon asked, opening his eyes to try to catch any sight of his friend's expression in the dark._

"Nothing. Go to sleep."

_Gon frowned at the answer, but decided not to press further for fear of angering the other once more and closed his eyes to fall asleep._

"Well, sorry for whatever I did. I didn't mean to make you mad, or know I was doing so," _Gon apologized, nuzzling his face into the other's hair._

"I said you didn't do anything, so don't say you're sorry for nothing," _Killua complained._

"I'm still sorry," _Gon said, muffled boy the silver shock of hair._

_Killua gave a huff, but didn't continue. He just closed his eyes and let the other's breathing lull him to sleep._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't feel obligated to give a good review, I accept good and bad alike, so don't hold back. Though I prefer any review to none at all. Constructive criticism is very much welcomed.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	24. Getting HomeXNeighborXHostility

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have returned, though I won't bore you all with the details of my absence. Here's a long chapter to make up for a long wait, though.
> 
> I could have and would have done more in the flashback, but I was honestly struggling to get through this in the first place because I do like Palm and I wasn't having too much fun making Killua hate her. So I had to finish this before I ended up hating it enough to just trash the whole thing and start all over.
> 
> I have a bad habit of hating everything I do, and I mean everything, too. It kind of sucks being a perfectionist in a world with no perfection.
> 
> Take note that sadly this story is coming to an end soon, maybe another two or three chapters tops. But I forbade myself from starting any other stories as long as this "practice story" is still going. So even though this one will end soon, it just means I'll be free to write plenty others! I've already got some 9 to 12 folders of story ideas I come up with before falling asleep ready and waiting, but there's one in particular I've been really wanting to do, so watch out for those in the future!
> 
> I just got to hope no one else comes up with them before I do them. I don't want it to seem like I'm copying everyone else.
> 
> I tried to work on being more descriptive here. Looking back I never really did too well on that, huh? But that's why I call this my practice story and won't write anything else until it's done, because I learn as this one goes. Maybe I'll even make a rewrite some day to try to make it better.
> 
> Ramble mode deactivated. Enjoy.

"It was probably just a bad time. Maybe a meeting, or the power went out?"

Gon and Killua were still walking through the pouring rain to their home, passing through the more rural area of their town now, wondering why Mito had not answered their calls earlier. Gon was still holding the clear plastic umbrella with two hands while Killua had retreated his hands into his pockets.

"I guess," Killua said, looking down at the ground in thought.

Gon eyed him carefully, not wanting the other to worry too much about it. "How come you didn't try her cellphone?"

"Because you said your signal was messed up all day. I thought it would be the same for her, too," the silver-haired teen explained. "So I didn't bother."

The storm had gotten progressively worse as time went by while the two were making their way home. The streets were starting to flood, little by little, and after a while cars may not even be able to make it home. People would likely have to just stay at wherever they were now and wait the storm out.

Gon gave a hum of understanding, looking up at the grey clouds hovering in the sky. He wondered what was going on with his Aunt Mito right now, and hoped she was alright during this storm.

Killua nudged the other softly, feeling his unease. "I'm sure she's fine, don't worry about it. She's one of the toughest people I've ever seen, after all."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," the spiky-haired boy said as he smiled at the other. "Do you think she'll be home before us?"

"She has to be. There's no way she'll let us be home alone anymore," Killua answered, watching the very few people who littered the side walks and wondering what they were even doing out. "Not after what happened last year, anyway."

"Oh, yeah..."

They walked in silence after that, their steps making small splashes in puddles of various sizes that they didn't bother trying to avoid. Their shoes were already completely soaked all the way to their feet, so it was pointless to worry about that now.

Gon snapped to attention after a realization hit him. "Ah! That's right!"

"What?" Killua asked, looking at him curiously.

"Today was so eventful, I almost forgot what tomorrow is," Gon answered, smiling at the other. "It's-"

"Yeah yeah, I know," Killua said, waving a hand dismissively at the matter. "I don't really care too much, though."

Gon frowned at hearing that, believing his friend should really care about what tomorrow is. He pouted at the other, then turned away with a huff. "You really should, but fine then. I'm setting the alarm for midnight when I get a chance, though."

"Whatever," Killua said, looking in the opposite direction in annoyance.

The spiky-haired teen glanced at the other after a while. While not agreeing with his friend's view he didn't want some miniscule spat like this to go on for too long, so he poked the other in the side. When he had the pale-skinned boy's attention, he gave a small kiss on his lips.

Killua sputtered in surprise and looked around the empty sidewalks and streets, making sure no one saw them. "D-don't do that in public, idiot!"

"What? Why?" Gon asked, exchanging his smile for a confused and sad frown. "I..thought I could do that now?"

"I said not in public. I didn't say not at all," the silver-haired teen clarified. "Because it's embarrassing if other people see us."

Gon pursed his lips and gave a small hum of annoyance. "I don't care about them, though. I only care about you."

"I realize that," Killua said, huffing at the other. "I don't care about them either, but it's still embarrassing."

"But..if you don't care, then how is it embarrassing?"

Killua opened his mouth to reply and paused, having to actually think it over. Gon looked over at the slightly slack-jawed boy, smirking at his absent reply.

"It..I..don't know. It just is, okay?" Killua answered, looking to the side. "I just don't want other people to see I guess."

The spiky-haired teen pouted, not really understanding the problem or why the other was embarrassed about such a thing, but let it slide as he did not wish to upset the other. He would try to find out another time.

"Alright," he said, looking down at the ground in sadness.

Killua glanced at the other and sighed, feeling bad as he noticed the saddened expression his friend held. "You can do that when we get home, alright? Just not where a bunch of strangers can see us. I..don't like letting other people see me _care_ or something, I guess, okay?"

"Really?" Gon asked, looking up and grinning at him. "So..it's like saying that side of you is mine? Just for me."

Killua placed his face in his hands and groaned. "Geez, you're such a selfish idiot! But yeah, I guess..."

"That's not a very nice thing to say, Killua," Gon said, referring to the 'selfish idiot' comment, even though he didn't really care that much.

"Yeah? Well the truth hurts," Killua muttered. "Come on, we're almost home."

Gon looked down the road, only just now noticing that they were on their own street. He didn't know what time it was and could not see past the storm clouds to try to make a half decent guess, but seeing no car in the driveway said that Aunt Mito was not home. Without knowing the time, there was a good chance that it could be minutes or hours before she came home, as well. Probably hours if you considered the near-flooded streets that no one would want to drive in.

Walking up to their house, they stopped when they noticed a light was on through the living room window and tensed up.

"You didn't leave the light on when you left this morning, did you?" Killua asked, looking at the other with wide eyes.

"No," Gon answered, shaking his head and peering at the window. "Aunt Mito would have turned it off when she left even if I did. She hates wasting electricity."

The silver-haired teen practically glared at the window, more than willing to believe someone had broken in during the hectic storm to make off with some small things to sell.

"I'll go high, you go low," Killua told him, already thinking of ways to take the intruder out.

Gon nodded and they made their way to the door, poking it open just barely enough to look around inside. When they saw no one they cracked it open enough to slip in and ran to opposite corners of the room.

This organization was the result of the video games they played alongside their impressibility.

Mike's head rose at he looked between the two, tail beginning to wag. He was about to bark when Killua waved his hands frantically.

"No Mike! Shhh!" he whispered, but the dog's tail wagged on.

A loud bark resounded through the house, shocking the other two through the silence. When they heard a noise in the kitchen, they immediately ran to either side of the entrance and waited. As soon as a young woman walked through the door Killua clamped a hand over her mouth and eyes while Gon stopped short of kicking her legs out from under herself.

"O-oh! Ms. Siberia!" Gon said as he stopped his leg, backing away from their neighbor.

Palm Siberia had lived next door since before Mito and Gon moved into the house years ago and more often than not was called on to babysit the pair when no one else would be home to keep them out of trouble, since Granny had passed on and could not watch over them. Gon and Palm hit it off pretty easily and became fast friends, which was a reason Killua was not a fan of her mere presence being in the vicinity at all even though she tries to be nice to him. He doesn't trust her in the least, and because of that he gets pretty mean whenever she's around.

When they moved in Palm had practically been forcibly dragged over to meet them by her friends Knuckle and shoot, but did not regret being forced through her shyness when she met the family. Mito was a bit skeptical about the girl's appearance at first, but did not judge her upon first look. The first time she was asked to babysit them did not go over well with Killua, who complained that they were old enough to take care of themselves. Palm agreed regardless, and became the regular sitter after getting to spend enough time with the boys to learn she enjoyed being with them.

Killua slowly removed his hands from her face, still a bit suspicious. Carefully and quietly he asked, "Why are you here?"

"M-Ms. Freecss asked me t-to come over if the storm got too bad a-and I didn't see h-her car back before five," the frightened neighbor explained.

Gon gave a quiet 'oh' as Killua eyed her skeptically. The spiky-haired boy grabbed his friend by the arm and pulled him away, elbowing him in the ribs and whispering, "Stop it, she's just here to help."

Palm watched the two boys as they quietly bickered in front of her. She began playing with her hair in nervousness and looked back to the kitchen at the food she was preparing for the two. "U-um, I'm going to go check on the roast while you two..sort this out."

Both their heads perked up at the mention of food and they followed the tall, lanky woman into the kitchen. When they entered the room they saw a plethora of ingredients around countertops being cleared off by their sitter. Looking at the table back in the other room they saw small dishes to go with the roast she mentioned consisting of mashed potatoes with gravy, two big bowls with different kinds of pastas, and a small pot of cooked vegetables. Their mouths began to water at the sight of all the food, staring wide-eyed at the table, when Palm appeared behind them and poked each one lightly.

"You're both wet," she said, pointing out the obvious. "And why are you in bandages?"

"Yeah, we missed our bus and had to come home in the rain," Gon explained, turning around to answer before Killua could make a sarcastic comment. "But we got an umbrella from a friend on the way, so it wasn't too bad."

"Long story," Killua answered, hiding his damaged hand behind his back.

Palm nodded in understanding, disappearing back into the kitchen once more to finish cleaning.

"Still want to get rid-"

"Yes," Killua cut off his friend sharply, wanting their sitter to leave.

"She's just trying to help, Killua," Gon tried. He frowned when his friend glared at the kitchen. "How come you dislike her so much?"

"How come you don't?" Killua questioned, turning his glare to the other.

Gon blinked a couple of times before something clicked in his mind. There'd only be one reason for Killua to want him to dislike her as well, wouldn't there?

"Killua," Gon started, giving a very cheeky mix between a grin and a smirk, "are you jealous?"

The pale-skinned boy spluttered indignantly, staring wide-eyed at his friend. "W-wh-what?! No! W-what the hell are you talking about?!"

Gon finally realized it now. When they played board games like Monopoly and Sorry!, Killua always targeted Palm specifically. When they watched movies, Killua always sat in the middle to separate them. When they ate dinner, he would always sneak small glares at her when she wasn't looking. When Gon and Palm would have conversations with each other, Killua would either hide away or outright refuse to participate.

"Killua, do you not like it when I have fun with other people?" Gon giggled lightly, letting it soon grow into full-blown laughter at the realization.

Killua scoffed at the other, hitting him on the back of the head. "N-no! I-idiot! Of course not, g-geez!"

The spiky-haired boy held the back of his head, still laughing some before he smirked again. "So you just want me all to yourself?"

"N-no," Killua answered quickly, blushing at the mention of that. "I don't care who you hang out with."

"You're still the most important to me no matter what, Killua," Gon said, smiling at him. "It can only be you, in fact."

The silver-haired teen crossed his arms and huffed, tossing his gaze to the side as his blush intensified. "Whatever. Just shut up."

"Well it's true," Gon said, looking back at the food on the table.

Palm walked in from the kitchen carrying a few lids to put on the dishes to trap the heat, keeping them from getting cold. Once the lids were in place, she turned to the boys.

"Go shower and dry up for dinner, please," she said as she pointed to the stairs. "No need to soak the furniture."

The pair looked down at their wet clothes, remembering that they had not yet changed into dry ones. Gon pushed Killua lightly towards the stairs, urging him to go on.

"You go first, I'll go after."

Killua turned to look at his friend questioningly. "Why?"

Gon internally sighed, just wanting his friend to do what he was told without some sort of question or snarky comment for once. "Alright, we can go at the same time. Then we can explore!"

"Down, Fido." Killua said, placing his palm on the other's face to lightly push him away, averting his eyes and getting flustered at the thoughts that comment initiated. "I'll go first, geez."

"Leave me some hot water," Gon said. He smiled as he watched the other go, then turned to Palm and looked her seriously in the eyes. "Can we talk for a bit?"

"What?" Palm gave him a surprised look, caught a bit off-guard by the sudden change. "Um, I don't see why not. Is something wrong?"

"Well..kind of," Gon answered, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "You see, because Aunt Mito isn't here I was kind of hoping I could be with Killua alone today. We kind of just..got together? I think. Something like that, a while ago. I'm not really sure, but I like to think we are! And I'm pretty sure Killua is a little jealous of you. Or it seems like that, anyway."

The lanky woman nodded in understanding. She always felt that the pale-skinned boy had some sort of issue with her, though did not hold it against him, but she never expected it to be _that_. "So you want me to leave?"

The spiky-haired teen nodded with an apologetic smile. "If you don't mind."

"Your aunt would be pretty mad if I were to do such a thing, you know."

Gon hadn't thought of that. Surely Aunt Mito would be mad if their sitter were to just up and leave simply because they wanted her to. He let himself get lost in thought, then threw a finger up when an idea came to mind.

"Why don't we just tell her you had an emergency and couldn't stay long? I'll handle her from there."

Palm hummed in thought, thinking it over before nodding. "Very well. But this," she waved her hand over the table, "was meant to be everyone's dinner. Including mine and Mito's. So I get to stay and eat first."

"Of course! I wouldn't dare make you go hungry," Gon said, beaming at her.

"Well, dinner should be ready by the time you're dressed," she said, fiddling with her hair and retreating to the kitchen once more.

"Okay!" Gon chirped happily, heading up the stairs to his room.

* * *

Killua leaned back against the shower wall once he was done cleaning himself, letting the warm water beat against his skin as he thought about what happened in the park today. The images of their two kisses flooding his mind, wondering what his friend was even thinking while trying that. Of course he certainly wasn't displeased with the results, but it was so unexpected and bull-headed that even if you knew it was coming you still would have been caught off-guard by it. Though he guessed he had to be happy the other was like that, or else neither of them would have ever gotten anywhere. The silver-haired teen knew he definitely never would have made the first move.

He slid down against the wall to sit on the shower floor, closing his eyes as the water hit his face. _"Where do we even go from here? Should anything even change?"_

He wasn't sure if he wanted anything to change at all. He was happy with how things were, and knew that change was not _always_ for the best. But never being in a situation like this before he didn't know if change would be good, bad, or both.

_"Maybe I should just roll with it. It's not like I could be unhappy with him."_

Sighing, he ran a hand through his wet hair and made a grab for the shampoo bottle they shared. Squirting some of the liquid in his hands he started rubbing at his head. He winced when he bent his damaged hand a little too much and a small, sharp pain shot through it. After letting it rest for a moment, he continued at a slower pace. When he leaned his head forward to rinse the gathering foam out of his hair he heard a knock on the door.

"Killua, don't take forever! I still need to go, too!"

He opened his eyes at the sound of his friend's voice, not realizing he had been in there for so long. He finished rinsing the suds out of his hair and turned off the water, stepping out and grabbing the towel he left on top of the toilet seat for himself. He wrapped it around his waist and grabbed a second towel to drape around his shoulders in an attempt to keep somewhat warm. Leaving the bathroom, he hurried to his room and shut the door, seeing dry clothes laid out for him on the bed.

"Oh, good, you're out. I'm going to go head in then," Gon said, poking his head out of the closet.

"Yeah, sorry for taking so long. I kind of spaced out in there," Killua explained, giving a small smile.

Gon grinned, stopping in front of the other at hearing that. "Were you thinking about me?"

"Maybe," Killua answered slowly, eyeing the other suspiciously. At seeing the spiky-haired teen's grin grow bigger his own face transformed into one of horror, turning red. He hit his friend on the back of the head as he exclaimed, "N-N-NO! N-not like _THAT_! I-I wasn't even doing _that_ , idiot!"

Gon snickered as he hurried by, too amused to pay attention to the blow his head just took, knowing that Killua surely wanted to hit him even more. "Sorry Killua, but it's funny when you get like that!"

"Tch." The pale-skinned boy slammed the door shut behind his friend, hoping that it hit him on the way out, before he began towelling himself dry to get dressed.

Once he was dry and dressed, he looked out the window to see the storm had hardly even budged. He pressed his forehead against the cool glass, watching the raindrops hit the window, losing himself in his thoughts again. He didn't feel like going downstairs and being alone with her, so he would just wait up here. Maybe even avoid dinner altogether.

* * *

Gon entered the bathroom and started undressing, dropping his clothes in the hamper in the corner and avoiding the small puddles of water on the floor. He entered the shower and turned on the water, turning the dial past the half-way point as he figured Killua must have used a good portion of the hot water already. When the water started, he stood directly under the nozzle to avoid getting hit by the cold water before it heated up. Giving it a few seconds, he moved under the water and gave a contented sigh as the warmth spread over his body. He had been freezing cold ever since he left the school due to the rain soaking him. He stood there for a while and enjoyed the water, then when he felt satisfied he took the soap and washrag to begin cleaning himself.

He hastily washed himself, as he didn't want to be unfinished when the water turned cold, and grabbed the shampoo. He noticed the bottle was still open and smiled. He loved it when Killua's hair smelled like this. When Killua said he didn't care what shampoo he used and that he would just steal Gon's so he didn't have to worry about it, Gon purposefully started buying this type because he loved the smell. It probably didn't go too well on himself, but he believed it went perfectly with Killua's natural scent.

He squirted some in his hand and started spreading it through his hair, which was matted down by the shower water. After rubbing it in deep enough, he let it settle for a moment before rinsing it out under the shower head. Once all the foam was out, he turned the dial further to 'Hot' and closed his eyes to relax in the heat.

Thinking back, he was extremely happy now that he took that risk and kissed the other. Or maybe he should be more happy that he could be thoughtless enough to do something so bold without worrying about it in the moment.

 _"Did I just call myself dumb in a way?"_ he wondered, frowning at the thought.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the thought, his eyes shot open at the sudden burst of cold he felt against his skin and practically jumped out of the shower. Nearly slipping on the way out, he grabbed hold of the sink to stop himself from falling completely and stood upright. He took a moment to steady himself, and once he was sure he was steady he turned off the shower and went through the cabinet under the sink for towels. Seeing none, he huffed and went to the door. Opening it, he poked his head out to call out for his friend.

"Killua! Can you come here?!" He hoped his friend would hurry, as he was freezing cold and shaking.

After a few moments, he saw Killua walk out of their room and down the hallway to stand in front of him with his hands in his pockets. The silver-haired boy looked at him questioningly, wondering why he was only poking his head out of the door.

"What's up?"

"There's no more towels in here, can you go get me one or two?"

Killua grinned mischievously at the shaking boy in front of him. "Yeah, of course I can."

"Thanks, Killua!" Gon said with a smile, but his smile slowly faded as the other didn't move for a while. "Aren't you going to go get them?"

"No. I said I _can_ ," Killua clarified, turning and walking away. "I didn't say I _would_."

"Wha..b-but! Killua!" Gon shouted at the other, who was still walking away slowly. "Killuaaa! Please! I'm cold!"

"Yeah?" Killua said, stopping and looking over his shoulder at the shaking boy. "Well why don't you just think of me and warm yourself up?"

Killua began walking away again with Gon shouting after him, "Wait! I'm sorry! I-I was just having a little fun with you!"

Palm came up the stairs and looked between the two of them. "What on earth is going on up here?"

"Nothing," Killua said sharply, turning once more to look at her while trying his best not to outright glare. "Go back to whatever you were doing."

Palm eyed the shaking teen hanging half way out of the bathroom door. "What's happening?"

"Killua has the last two towels in our room, and I'm just trying to convince him to bring them here," Gon said as calmly as he could, trying not to get their sitter involved for his friend's sake. "No big deal."

Palm sighed and started for their bedroom. Killua visibly bristled when she passed him, and Gon could practically feel the anger radiating from him. His friend never did like letting their sitter in their bedroom, and whenever she had to go in it was as if his anger grew unbridled enough to become tangible.

"Wait, Palm!" Gon called out, stopping her. "It's okay, really. We're just having a little fun is all. You can go a head back to what you were doing, don't worry about us."

The lanky woman stared at him for a moment, seemingly oblivious to the anger radiating off the boy a few paces behind her. She began walking back to the stairs as she spoke, "Alright then, but hurry before the food gets cold."

"Yeah, we'll be down soon," Gon told her as she passed him, then looked back over to the slowly calming Killua. "If you're okay, can I get the towels now? I feel like I'm rolling around in melting snow."

Killua stopped glaring at the staircase, looking at Gon with a stern expression when he was spoken to. He went into their room and snatched the towels off the bed, staring at them for a long moment.

 _"Who the hell is she to think she can come in here? This is_ our _sanctuary, not_ hers _. As if it isn't bad enough she's allowed in the house, she has to try to come in our room too,"_ he thought angrily, scowling at the poor, innocent towels. _"This is_ my _family, not_ hers _."_

He clutched the towels harder and gritted his teeth, seething at the mere thought of the times she came in here and tainted his safe haven. Stealing his time with Gon, telling him what to do as if she were Mito, stealing his time with Gon, watching over them as if she were Granny, stealing his time with Gon, causing him to recede within himself and hide away, stealing his time with Gon.

 _"Wait,"_ Killua thought, his head bolting up from the towels he was still scowling at. _"Shit, Gon."_

Killua hurried out the door and down the hall, shoving the towels in the shaking boy's face. "Here."

"What took you so long?" Gon asked, wrapping the towels around himself as quickly as he could manage, relishing in the small amount of warmth he finally felt.

"Just got a little preoccupied." The silver-haired teen buried his hands in his pockets and looked away with his head down.

Gon came out of the bathroom, now covered by a towel around his waist and one around his shoulders, and patted his friend on the back. "That's fine. Come on, let's go eat."

Killua grabbed the other's shoulder, who had started for the stairs. "Clothes, moron."

"Oh." The spiky-haired teen looked down at himself, remembering that he was not dressed or dry. "Right."

As Gon began down the hallway to their room Killua stared at his hair as he went, thinking how he looked that much cuter with his hair down because of the water. He started down the stairs, sitting in a chair at the dining table across from Palm. He stared at her for a long while, a seemingly indifferent look on his face.

"So, how was your day?" Palm asked, giving a small smile at the boy across from her.

"I kicked Gon in the face when I woke up late, got in trouble before I even left for school, nearly had my skateboard taken away, hit my head on a chair, found an embarrassing picture of myself, probably broke a few of my knuckles, almost missed eating lunch and got in trouble with the teacher. I blacked out and can't even remember what I did during half of gym, yet still managed to some how knock out Gon and cause bleeding to the back of my head. Freaked out in the nurse's office and made Gon freak out in turn, missed the bus home, forgot my skateboard at school, threw a shit fit and broke some school property. Then I hurt Gon's feelings and made him run off on his own, getting us both soaked in the rain when I went to go look for him." Killua bit back the part about coming home to see she had invaded their place once more and avoided letting her know anything good that happened in the hopes of shutting her up. "Want to hear about yesterday?"

"No," she answered a little too quickly, twiddling her thumbs and looking away. "That's fine."

Killua smirked inwardly, getting just the reaction he wanted from her when Gon came down the stairs and took a seat next to the other boy. Palm didn't waste any time in taking off the lids on the side dishes and passing around cuts of the roast to each of the three plates. It was pretty obvious to her that Killua wanted her gone, so she would not try to prolong this.

"Leave some for Mito. I'm sure she'll be hungry when she gets home," Palm said before she started eating.

Their dinner was spent in an unsettling silence. Palm kept to herself, watching her food, not wishing to upset the pale-skinned boy anymore. Killua would either be looking down at his plate or glaring at the woman across the table. Gon would constantly be looking between the two of them, just wanting everyone to get along. The only sound accompanying the soft clanking of silverware on plates was the thunder booming outside every so often.

Gon was first to finish, with Killua close behind. They took their plates to the sink in the kitchen, rinsing them off and leaving them there as Palm entered after they were done. When Palm rinsed off her own plate and left it in the sink, she went to the front door and grabbed her coat. Killua watched her curiously from his spot on the sofa as she put her coat on, wondering what was going on when Gon went up to her and handed her their clear-plastic umbrella.

"This one is ours, you can bring it back whenever you want," he explained with a smile. "Or keep it if you like. Thanks for doing this."

She accepted the umbrella with a small smile and checked her coat pockets to make sure she had her key. "Thank you. I'll bring it back tomorrow afternoon."

Gon locked the door behind her when she left, then went back to sit next to the confused boy awaiting him on the couch. He made sure not to kick Mike, who was lying at the edge of the sofa under Killua.

"Where's she going?" Killua asked, confusion laced in his voice.

"Home," Gon answered as if it was obvious, sitting next to his friend who was lying on his back on the couch. He could hear the slight relief in the other's voice.

Killua flipped around to lie on his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows and looking up at the other suspiciously. "How come?"

"Well, I would have preferred she stayed because I don't get to see her all that often," Gon explained as he smiled down at the other. "But she was bothering you, so I convinced her that we would be fine if she went home and that I would handle Aunt Mito."

Killua stared up at his friend, not entirely sure how to feel about that. Mad that Gon wanted her to stay? Happy that he got her to leave for him? Annoyed that he only got her to leave because Killua wanted her gone? Honored that Gon acted unselfishly just for him?

He opted to stare blankly at the other for a while, who was giving a nervous smile because he wasn't sure exactly what the silver-haired teen was feeling or thinking.

"Whatever," Killua mumbled, crawling forward and resting in Gon's lap.

* * *

_**Age 14** _

 

_One day Mito had been held up at work, leaving Gon and Killua home alone for a mere 2 hours. When she drove down the street to her home that day, she saw a fire truck and 2 police cruisers parked outside the house with flashing lights. The firemen were just finishing up in putting out the fire, the officers were dragging the two teens away from the house and Mike was chained to the small post they put in the front yard so he can go out every so often on his own barking at them all. Her heart jumped at the sight, and she parked in her driveway._

"What's going on?" _the red-head asked as she got out of the car, rushing over to her two boys. Her eyes widened when she noticed the handcuffs on both of them._

"Hi Aunt Mito!" _Gon called out happily, as if nothing were wrong at all._

"Ma'am, are these your children?" _one of them asked with a tired tone._

"Yes, they are. What happened? Why are they in handcuffs?"

"Well we went in to get the boys to safety from the fire, but this one," _the officer holding Killua pushed him forward roughly,_ "decided to _bite_ me when I tried to escort the other boy out, so I had to forcefully restrain him. That was when the other one decided to jump me, and my partner had to restrain him as well."

"Because you were hurting him!" _Gon yelled at the man angrily._

"He _bit_ me and refused to let go."

"He-"

"Gon, stop arguing with him," _Mito scolded, crossing her arms._ "Sir, is there anyway we can let this go with a warning?"

"He assaulted an officer of the law, ma'am. That is not something we take lightly."

"I understand, and I'll handle them. They're just very protective of each other, and the situation was surely causing extra stress on them," _Mito tried, really not wanting them to have a record for that._ "They really aren't bad or violent kids."

_Well, not bad anyways._

_The officers looked at each other, but relented and uncuffed the pair._ "We don't want to have to see these two again, ma'am."

"I understand," _Mito said, nodding at the parting men._

_When the firetrucks and police cruisers were gone, she dragged the two inside and had them sit on the sofa. She glared at them long and hard, waiting for an explanation._

"We didn't know when you were going to be back, and we were hungry, so," _Gon trailed off, rubbing his shoulder and looking away._

"I figured that out from the beginning, what I can't understand is why you would dare attack a police officer."

 _Killua winced at that and looked down at the ground, knowing that she was speaking more at him than Gon._ "I..we were trying to put the fire out, but those guys came in and grabbed Gon. I didn't know who it was or what they were doing, so I just tried to get them off him."

"The blue suits and gold badges didn't say anything?" _Mito questioned skeptically, putting her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow at him._

"I wasn't looking at that! I was trying to throw water on the fire but it wouldn't go out, and when I turned around to get more I just saw two guys who looked like they were trying to hurt him!" _he tried to explain desperately._ "I didn't know..."

 _Mito sighed and ran a hand through her hair._ "Well, you're certainly not allowed to stay home alone anymore. That's for sure."

 _Killua and Gon glanced at each other, then back at her. Gon asked,_ "You're not going to make us stay outside, are you?"

"What? No!" _Mito answered, staring at him incredulously._ "Are you out of your mind? I'm going to get a babysitter whenever I'm not home from now on."

 _Killua stiffened when he heard that, really not wanting to have to hide away again because of some new person in the house. He clutched the sofa cushion under himself and squared his shoulders._ "Do you really have to? I'm sure we could take care of ourselves, this was only the first time after all."

"Yes, I do. I shouldn't have left you home alone in the first place," _Mito answered. Walking away, she told them,_ "I'll ask around and look for ads tomorrow for sitters."

_Killua sighed, looking down at the ground, he really didn't want this to happen. "This is going to suck."_

"It'll be alright, Killua," _Gon said as if reading his mind, placing a hand on his shoulder._ "I'm sure we'll get someone nice. Just think of it as making a new friend!"

"Just because it's that simple for you doesn't mean it is for everyone, Gon," _Killua said, shaking the hand off his shoulder and getting up to leave._

_Later that same week Mito hired their first sitter. A pretty, young, blonde, teenage girl, probably only two or three years older than the boys themselves._

"She must be joking," _Killua whispered to Gon._

"Hi Clara!" _Gon greeted the girl brightly._

"Don't we go to school together?" _the girl, Clara, asked. She was obviously confused as to why someone almost her own age would need a sitter._

"Oh, wonderful!" _Mito exclaimed, clapping her hands together in excitement._ "So you already know each other!"

"Mito, she's only two grades ahead of us!" _Killua said exasperatedly, waving a hand at their schoolmate._

"Age doesn't matter in this situation, Killua," _Mito retorted as she grabbed her coat._ "You two could be fifty years old and I would still hire a sitter to watch you."

"We aren't _that_ bad, Aunt Mito," _Gon said, feeling a little insulted._

"Of course you're not, Gon," _Mito said, hiding her sarcasm well._ "You three call if you need anything, I'll have my phone."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," _Clara said cheerfully to the parting red-head._ "Right boys?"

_Killua had Mike chase her out ten minutes later in a mess of snarls and barks, regardless of Gon's protesting. When Mito returned and heard the story, she decided not to get any younger sitters from here on out. The next time, she called on their neighbor instead. They often had tea together, and she trusted the other woman could handle herself._

_Hopefully._

_Palm Siberia walked through the door to Gon, Killua and Mito's home. Mito had called and asked her to come over and babysit while she went to a co-worker's house for a few hours. Palm was a bit nervous, but said she would be right over._

"They have to be in bed by 10:30 at the latest. Don't let them give you any excuses to stay up longer," _Mito explained as she was putting things in her purse and walking towards the door._ "And if they try to give you any trouble, don't be afraid to call me right away."

"I'm sure we'll be fine, Ms. Freecss," _Palm said, toying with her hair as she followed the red-head around._

_Gon watched them happily, smiling at seemingly nothing. Killua watched them indifferently, not really showing any type of emotion in front of this strange woman who he has only seen once or twice. Mike was sitting beside Killua loyally, staring at the sitter as she went about._

_When Mito was finally gone, Palm closed and locked the door. Turning around she saw the two boys still standing in place, the dog still sitting dutifully next to them, one smile and one blank faced._

"Um, hello," _she said hesitantly, not exactly sure where to go from here. She had come around often, but never really spent any time with the children, only to spend time with Granny and Mito. She pointed to each as she said their names for confirmation,_ "Gon, and Killua?"

 _Both boys nodded, and Gon spoke up,_ "Hello, Ms. Siberia! That's a cool sounding name. It reminds me of a Siberian husky, and they're awesome!"

"Yes, well, you can call me Palm if you like." _Palm leaned down in front of Killua as Gon nodded again, asking in the nicest voice she could manage,_ "And how about you? Do you have anything to say?"

_Killua's eyes glinted momentarily with something akin to a territorial cat, but he did not speak. Mike could feel his master's unease, and subsequently let out an almost inaudible growl that no one heard._

_She frowned when she noticed this dangerous glint in his eyes, staring at him for longer than intended. Had she wronged him in some way already?_

"Ah, Killua doesn't really..well, like people he doesn't know," _Gon's explanation broke the tension filled silence._ "He um, might take a while to open up to you."

 _Palm turned her gaze to him as he explained the other's problem. Nodding in understanding, she turned back to the pale-skinned boy and smiled._ "I suppose that's why I didn't get the pleasure of seeing you the first few times I came over. Well, I hope in time we can become good friends."

_Killua instinctively took a couple of steps back, obviously irritated. Mike then growled at the woman, standing on all fours and baring his teeth, though Palm did not budge or even pay him any mind._

"Mike, no! Bad!" _Gon called out crossly. He was not going to have this happen again._ "Sit!"

_Mike took a step back to sit beside Killua once more, still watching the lanky woman closely._

_When Palm saw Gon take hold of Killua's hand, calming him down some, she opted to make friends with the brown-eyed boy until the other decided to open up to her. She stood to her full height and looked down at the two._

"Well, Gon and Killua, is there anything you'd like to do? We could play games, or watch movies, maybe do some puzzles."

_The duo stared at each other a while, seeming to be having some silent conversation. She idly began to wonder exactly how close these two were when the brighter of the pair spoke up._

"Can we have dinner first?" _Gon answered._ "We haven't eaten all day."

"Oh, well of course. I'll make something right away," _Palm said happily._ "I actually like to cook a lot, you know."

 _She made for the kitchen with the pair following closely behind her and Mike lying on the floor in front of the kitchen entrance. She looked around the kitchen before asking,_ "Is there anything specific you would like?"

"Anything is fine, but uh," _Gon said, trailing off._ "Can we make something with chocolate, too? Killua would really like that."

"Well, I don't see why not," _Palm answered, happy to see Killua's eyes soften even the slightest at that._

"Hey Palm, can we help?" _Gon asked when she began pulling things out of the fridge._

 _The sitter turned around and stared at him, confused._ "Well..yes, but don't you have something more fun you two would rather be doing?"

"Well, maybe. But I can't really think of anything else to do right now."

_Killua frowned, displeased by that answer. He could likely think of something to do._

_Palm hummed thoughtfully, pulling out a box of cake mix and a big bowl. She prepared the mix with eggs, vegetable oil and water and mixed it up some to get it started._

"Well, I suppose you can mix this then." _Palm gave the spiky-haired boy the whisk and bowl full of chocolate batter, which Killua tried to dip his finger in and had smacked away by the whisk Gon was holding._ "He can have some, but not too much."

_Killua stuck his tongue out at the other, until a spoon was shoved into his hand. He looked at the tool used for eating with absolute disgust._

"Killua likes to use his fingers." _Gon gave him a weird look as Killua wiggled his fingers, then turned back to Palm._ "He always says it tastes better like that."

 _Palm stared at the pair, not exactly sure what to say about that. After a couple blinks she asked,_ "Well I'm not really too fond of sweets, so I won't be having any when they're made. So if you don't mind him doing it then I suppose it's okay."

"Are you kidding?" _Gon beamed at her._ "I love it when he does that! It makes the cupcakes taste like him, and Killua tastes great!"

_Killua buried his face in his hands, face completely red and wanting to cry from the sheer stupidity of that statement, let alone what it implied. Palm continued to stare at the duo, obviously a bit shocked from that statement. It took a few moments before he actually understood what he just implied._

"O-oh. No, not like that. I mean he always smells real good, and usually you taste like how you smell," _Gon tried to explain with a desperate look._ "B-but, that's not to say when he smells bad he won't taste good. B-because it's Killua, a-and everything about Killua is always great. In fact-"

_The rambling teen was silenced when Killua hit him on the back of the head hard enough to send his face rocketing forward into the bowl full of batter in the poor boy's hand. Gon lifted his head from the mushy substance, the batter dripping from his face, and slowly opened his eyes._

"I'll shut up now," _he said quietly after a sigh._

_Gon handed the bowl and whisk over to Killua, then headed for the sink to start washing his face. The silver-haired boy began happily eating the chocolate batter with his hand, not even bothering to stir with the whisk, until he looked towards the sink and saw Palm cleaning the other boy's face with a washrag. That wouldn't have bugged him at all, if Gon weren't grinning like an idiot at her._

"What's wrong, Killua? Does it taste wrong?" _Gon asked, walking up to other._

_It took that comment for Killua to realize he had stood there, unmoving, and staring at the two with his fingers in his mouth. He shook his head 'no' to answer, and continued to lick the batter off his fingers, trying to seem unbothered._

"Kilua..you're not even stirring it," _Gon said, frowning at his friend._ "Can I at least have a little, then?"

 _Killua looked at him suspiciously, but reluctantly pulled his fingers out of his mouth and agreed. Barely above a whisper, he said,_ "I guess..."

_Gon smiled, but instead of going for the bowl that the other held out for him he took Killua's wrist and licked one finger. Completely innocent and oblivious to what he was really doing, he continued to lick his friend's finger until it was clean of all batter on it._

_Killua didn't know whether to laugh, cry, yell, hit him or all of the above. Though he was too shocked to do anything at the moment, so he just stared in horror with a red face as the spiky-haired teen went at it._

_When Gon pulled back and let go of his friend's wrist, he grinned brightly._ "I was right! You even taste better than the batter!"

_Killua could hear Palm stifle a laugh and glared in her direction, only to see she was trying her hardest to not look at the pair. Throwing the whisk in his friend's face, he hugged the bowl protectively and stormed out of the kitchen._

_Gon rubbed his nose where the whisk hit him, then took a couple of steps forward and stopped at the sound of Palm's voice._

"Gon, why don't you stay here and help me? Maybe Killua just needs a little space," _she tried, wanting to give the silver-haired boy some time to cool off._

"But..he isn't mad, is he?" _Gon asked with worry, afraid he had wronged the other in some way._

"Well, maybe not mad. But I think he could use a moment or two to himself. Let's let him enjoy his chocolate and we'll check on him in a bit, okay?"

"Okay," _Gon replied a bit sadly after staring at the kitchen entrance._

_The sitter handed him a spoon and told him he could be in charge of stirring the pots full of rice and broccoli, remembering Mito's warning of not letting him actually try to cook anything. While handling that he listened to Palm tell stories of her friends, Knuckle and Shoot. She would often ramble on to another subject entirely until Gon got her back on track, though sometimes he would let her ramble on as he just enjoyed listening._

_Meanwhile Killua sat in the living room, tensing up every time he heard his friend laugh at something the lanky woman said. Normally the sound of the other's laughter was enough to let him know everything was alright, but for some reason it was extremely annoying at the moment. Could it be that it's because the cause of it is someone else, rather than himself?_

_"Nah," he rebuffed the thought immediately. "I don't get jealous."_

_He sighed, not liking that he didn't even know why he was in a bad mood. Not knowing only served to make it worse. Lying his head back on the sofa cushions, he dipped another two fingers into the bowl of chocolate batter in his lap and absentmindedly put them in his mouth. He was far too gone in his thoughts to even realize what he was doing anymore. Another laugh from the two in the kitchen caused him to grit his teeth, resulting in a rough bite to his two fingers._

"FUCK!" _the silver-haired teen screamed out, jumping up in shock._

_The bowl miraculously landed right side up, not spilling a drop, on the floor in front of him. He waved the hand he bit back and forth, as if trying to shake the pain off, as he clamped the other over his mouth when he realized what he had just screamed out. Gon came running in first, slamming into the back of the couch and staring at his friend's back in worry, with Palm following behind shortly. She watched from the archway entrance of the kitchen, sure that Gon could probably handle this better than she could at the moment. She was afraid that if she got too close, Killua might close himself off again and they wouldn't find out what happened._

"Killua, what's wrong?!" _Gon asked in a raised voice with evident worry._ "What happened?"

"Nothing," _Killua answered sharply, keeping his back to the other._

"No," _Gon retorted sharply._ "You don't use bad words unless something really bad happens, and I want to know what."

_The pale-skinned teen rolled his eyes at his friend's stubbornness, silently cursing the fact that Gon was not as dumb as he constantly made himself out to be. Looking around the immediate area for an excuse, he settled for a believable lie that the other would likely buy into._

"I tried to stand up without watching where I was going and kicked the coffee table," _he answered, still not turning around._

"Liar," _Gon called him out instantly, crossing his arms and glaring._

 _Killua's face dropped at that, and in a flat tone he asked,_ "How would you even know?"

"Because you don't like to look at me when you lie."

_Sighing, he turned around. The first thing he noticed was not his friend though, but the lanky woman standing in the kitchen's entryway watching them warily. He gave a small glare without realizing it, then turned around and picked up the bowl on the floor. Not sparing a glance back at the two, he went to the stairs. Palm went back into the kitchen to check on the food when she noticed the glare directed at her._

"Stop trying to run away, Killua," _Gon said angrily, grabbing the other by the shoulder._ "It doesn't help anything."

_While he knew it was true, he really didn't want to deal with things like this. He just wanted them to go away and be done with them. Groaning softly he took his foot off the first step, placed the bowl down on the steps, and faced the other. placing his hands on his hips, he forced out an exaggerated sigh to let the spiky-haired teen know he was greatly annoyed._

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you to tell me what's wrong," _Gon answered._ "You've been in a mood all day, ever since Aunt Mito said she was going to get someone to watch us. I hate it when you get in these moods because they make me feel bad, too."

 _"One would think he would have given himself a clue with what he just said," Killua thought to himself._ "Nothing is wrong. I'm not in a mood. Have you thought that maybe you're just being paranoid?"

"Have you thought that maybe you're just in a mood?" _Gon countered sharply, beginning to lose the little patience he had in the first place._

 _Killua bristled indignantly, balling his hands up into fists at his sides and raising his shoulders, wanting to strangle the other for his accusations. He ground out slowly through gritted teeth,_ "I am _not_ in a mood, damn it."

"You always use bad words when you're really mad, too."

 _Killua slapped his palm on his face and slowly dragged it down. He honestly wanted to kill this boy right now. Maybe not bad enough to actually do it, but still pretty badly. He forced a smiled, although it looked more maniacal than happy._ "Look, Gon, I'm fine. See how happy I look? Everything is fine."

"You look like that Hisoka guy from down the street who drives the ice cream truck when he's staring at people," _Gon replied, taking a step back. The look didn't convince him that Killua was happy, but certainly worked in creeping him out._

_Killua sighed and dropped back to sit on the steps, covering his face in his hands. When he landed, a soft 'splat' was heard and his head shot up as he immediately knew what just happened. He stood up slowly, horror evident on his face. He couldn't believe what just happened, what he had just done, the crime he had just committed. His bottom lip began quivering, his eyes as wide as saucers._

"K-Killua," _Gon tried to speak through held back laughter._ "U-um, I think you-"

"I know what I did," _Killua interrupted the other sharply._

_He turned around to pick up the bowl and heard Gon strain himself to hold back a burst of laughter. Picking up the bowl and staring into it, he saw the imprint of his bottom disappear as the batter reformed itself. That was when it hit him, and he quickly turned to face his friend. His face turned red in embarrassment when he realized the spiky-haired teen could see his backside in detail through his shorts thanks to the chocolate mess._

"Killua-"

"I will kill you if you say a word about it," _Killua warned him._ "I swear I will. I will destroy your remains and burn your grave."

 _Gon threw his hands up in mock surrender, taking a couple of steps back._ "Okay, okay."

 _The red-face boy eyed him warily, not trusting him one bit on this matter._ "I'm serious. I will."

"I understand," _Gon reassured him. When the pale-skinned teen started ascending up the steps Gon waited until he was at the top to blurt out,_ "I like it, though. It's like your shorts are see-through!"

_Killua turned and lifted the bowl in the air, ready to throw it at the boy, when he remembered the precious material that would be harmed if he did and lowered it. Then he remembered that it was tainted and lifted it up, ready to throw again. Though he figured his shorts were clean, so it was probably still fine, and lowered it. But then the thought of eating something that touched his backside made him raise it once more. However, because it was clothed it wasn't so bad and could be tolerated. Lowering the bowl he decided to just leave to go change before the substance got through his shorts and boxers, and to avoid continuing this little 'dance' of his._

"I hate you," _Killua said as he left._

_Roaming back into the kitchen, Gon stood beside his sitter and peered over the stove into the pots. He wasn't sure if anything was or wasn't done, but it certainly smelled good enough to go ahead and eat._

"Hey, will it be ready soon?" _Gon asked, pulling on the side of Palm's dress for her attention._ "Maybe Killua is moody because he's hungry. That annoys him a lot."

"It will be ready soon," _Palm answered, then looked down at the boy._ "You really know a lot about him, don't you?"

"Uh huh!" _Gon said, nodding with a smile._ "Killua's my best friend ever, so I have to know everything about him! Good and bad, no matter what."

_Palm nodded slowly at that, understanding some what. She usually wanted to know everything about her friends as well, but understood there was boundaries. This boy before her did not seem to know boundaries, however. But that was just an assumption from the last statement._

_"Or maybe he just doesn't want boundaries with Killua," she figured. "That or he has no shame."_

_They turned their attention to the kitchen entrance when soft footsteps were heard, and saw Killua with his hands dug in the pockets of the sweat pants replacing his shorts. Both quickly turned their attention back to the pots, not wanting to make him uncomfortable by staring after what had happened._

_Killua frowned at their quickly turned heads, immediately getting the wrong message and leaving the room. "Well screw you both, too."_

_Going back up the stairs to his room, Killua stopped himself short of slamming the door and simply closed it instead. He huffed as he went to sit in the middle of the bed, taking the bowl of chocolate batter he left in their room in his lap and staring into it._

"At least you never get bored with me," _he told the bowl, watching it for a minute before placing it on the nightstand next to the bed._ "Too bad I don't feel like chocolate right now."

_He lied back on the bed and closed his eyes for a moment, just wanting to forget about everything for a while. That hope was short-lived, however, when he heard the door softly squeak open. He kept his eyes closed and back on the bed, hoping they would just leave him alone thinking he was asleep. He was unpleasantly surprised when the person jumped on the bed and poked him in the side twice._

"Killua," _Gon's voice said,_ "come on, let's go set the table."

_The silver-haired teen still didn't move, figuring the other would believe he fell asleep if he just held still. Though he knew better than to believe the more-stubborn-than-a-mule teen would give up so easily, he hoped against hope and tried anyway. Another few pokes and a loud huff later, Killua felt something jab itself and a small part of his shirt into his belly button. He sat up abruptly in surprise, his eyes wide and reeled his fist back to retaliate. He stopped himself short of knocking the other boy clear across the room when he remembered who it was._

"Oh," _Gon said when he noticed that he was about to get decked,_ "you weren't faking, huh?"

 _Killua groaned and rolled over onto his side, putting his back to the other._ "Go away."

"Only if-"

" _No_ , I'm not going to tell you 'what's wrong' so you can go away when there is nothing wrong and you won't go away even if there was and I told you," _Killua snarled at the other, glaring over his back. He also didn't exactly understand what was wrong in the first place, but he didn't want Gon to know that._ "Just put my food up and I'll eat it later. Or eat it yourself, I don't care."

_Gon frowned and looked at the bowl of unfinished chocolate batter on the nightstand. "If Killua won't even eat that, then it has to be really, really bad."_

_He stared at his friend's back in silence for a moment, then sat on the edge of the bed next to him._

"Why are you still here?" _Killua asked when he felt the bed stop shifting, obviously annoyed._

"Because I want to help," _Gon answered softly, gripping the sheets with impatience._ "Why won't you let me this time? You always have before."

 _"Yeah, after you pestered me for hours on end about it every time." Killua rolled back over and stared at Gon's side._ "Why won't you just let it go when I say it's nothing?"

"Because whatever it is it's obviously bothering you," _Gon declared, looking down into Killua's eyes._ "And if it's bothering you then it's bothering me, too."

_The spiky-haired teen fell off the bed when a pillow connected with his face, landing on the floor. He took a second to register the fact that Killua had just thrown a pillow at him, and glared up at the pale-skinned boy who was turning to his other side. Gon felt like he was dealing with a volatile animal. While this wasn't the first time he had to deal with one of those, obviously it couldn't and shouldn't be handled in the same way. He sat cross-legged and put a hand on each knee, deciding to stare at the other until he was told what was wrong._

_The silver-haired boy felt the eyes of the other boring into his back, and glanced over his shoulder at him._ "That's not going to make me say anything."

_Gon continued to glare in silence, completely unmoving._

"Don't you need to go set the table or something?" _Killua asked, sparing another glance at the other._

_Gon continued to glare in silence, completely unmoving._

"You are not accomplishing anything, Gon," _Killua said, starting to get angry._ "The only thing you're doing right now is annoying me and probably missing dinner, so just go eat."

_Gon continued to glare in silence, completely unmoving._

_Killua got off the bed and stood in front of the glaring teen, looking about ready to strike at him for refusing to leave. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, sitting cross-legged in front of the other. He placed his hands on his knees in the same fashion and blanked his face, staring indifferently at the spiky-haired teen. The pair stared each other down for a while, but just when Killua was about to say something Palm walked in._

"I hope I'm not interrupting, but the food is ready," _she said, studying the two._

"We'll be down in a minute," _Gon replied, looking over Killua's shoulder at her._

 _Palm wasn't going to have that, however. She could practically feel the tension polluting the air. She walked further into the room as she questioned suspiciously,_ "What's going on, exactly?"

_With each step Killua heard from her, one of his fingers would twitch the slightest bit. This went unnoticed by Gon, whom was still watching Palm._

"I'm just trying to find out what's upsetting Killua," _Gon answered, looking back at the pale-skinned boy._ "Even though he won't work with me."

 _Sitting on the bed above them, she looked down at Killua._ "Killua, why don't you talk to us about it? Maybe we can help."

_Gon got a little nervous at what reaction his friend might produce from this, but watched on curiously. Killua's gaze shifted to the side, looking up at her rather blankly, but he refused to speak. She wondered just what this boy had to go through to be able to readily hide everything so well, remembering that Mito had mentioned he had not always lived with them._

"I'm not here to hurt you, I can promise you that much," _Palm insisted, not wanting this to be anymore harder than it should be. She wasn't expecting them to embrace her with open arms on the first day, but she wasn't expecting this, either._ "You don't have to hide from me."

 _Killua stood up, crammed his hands in his pockets and made for the door to go downstairs. On his way out he muttered,_ "Not interested..."

 _Gon sighed and looked up at Palm._ "I'm really sorry, he isn't usually this mean. Trust me, he's really nice when you get to know him."

"You mean 'if he lets you get to know him'," _Palm corrected._ "But don't worry, I'm not offended. We'll just wait until he's ready to open up, and until then I guess you'll have to be twice as nice to make up for him."

 _Gon laughed at that._ "I think I can do that. I'll make sure you have lots of fun whenever you come over! Maybe if Killua sees me having fun with you he'll want to try, too!"

"Yeah, maybe." _Palm said._ "Let's go before the food gets cold. Maybe we can convince him to play a game with us afterwards, or watch a movie. Something to lighten the mood."

"We'll let him pick!" _Gon said cheerfully, jumping to his feet in excitement._

_Within the next few months, Killua did in fact open up to Palm. Though to everyone's dismay, certainly not in a positive way._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't feel obligated to give a good comment, I accept good and bad alike, so don't hold back. Though I prefer any comment to none at all. Constructive criticism is very much welcomed.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	25. EndedXUpXHere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are folks. The final chapter. Saved it until today because I don't know if the new episode today is going to tear my heart out again or not and I wanted something fluffy to help dull the pain. At least it was nice and didn't last week, but I guess Togashi just wanted to give us a break after episode 131 to get our hearts put back in so he could tear it out again later.
> 
> With this done I'll be working on a bunch of other stories now, a couple in particular I'm rather excited to do (War-fic featuring betrayal, friendship and so many characters from the show is the one I want to do most right now), so be sure to watch out for those.
> 
> Enjoy!

Killua buried his face in the other's shirt over his stomach and curled up into a ball, closing his eyes and listening to the rain and thunder outside. Gon dipped his hand in the silvery head of hair and started scratching softly, playing with his hair somewhat in the process. Feeling Killua relax significantly, he decided to ask rather than just interrupting the silence without warning.

"Do you mind if I turn on the TV? I promise to keep it low."

"Whatever," came a small, muffled and tired whisper from the other.

Gon had to keep from letting out a small laugh as the lips of his friend moved his shirt, tickling his stomach some when he spoke. He smiled, though, as Killua sounded so small, tired and serene at the moment. He did have a rough day, after all, so Gon was happy his friend could finally relax now. The spiky-haired teen almost didn't want to turn on the TV for fear of ruining the other's comfort, but wanted to check the news in case the storm got any worse. Grabbing the remote on the armrest of the couch, he switched on the television set and jumped slightly at the high volume he was not expecting it to switch on with.

"S-s-sorry! I didn't know it was that loud last time it was on." Feeling Killua tense harshly in his lap, he fumbled with the remote in his free hand and turned it down quickly. "Sorry, Killua."

Gon felt bad when he felt the heat of Killua's breath pass through his shirt, knowing the other just sighed. He felt worse still when the silver-haired boy did not relax, but stayed tensed up in his lap. He took his hand out of the silver head of hair and brought it down to the other's curled up back, rubbing up and down in an attempt to soothe him like Aunt Mito used to do whenever he felt bad. It seemed to work as Killua slowly reclined into his touch, so Gon turned the TV down a little lower to try to make him happier.

When he was sure his friend was content, he turned his attention to the television. He continued to rub the other's back softly as he listened to the woman on the weather channel inform them about the severe thunderstorm, rolling blackouts and light flooding on the streets.

"Go get some candles or something, and one of the battery radios. The power will probably go out here soon, too," Killua's muffled voice interrupted the quiet peace, sounding sad now.

Gon shook his head. "I'll deal with it when that happens then. You just relax."

"I don't mind," Killua retorted, his tone contradicting his words. He was already moving to get off the other when he continued, "I don't care, in fact."

Gon hugged the pale-skinned teen as he tried to move away, holding him close. "Nooo!"

"What the-" Killua started, struggling against the embrace. "Let go you idiot!"

"No way!" Gon protested. "Just relax, Killua."

Killua grunted from his position, face smashed against his friend's chest. "How the hell am I supposed to do that when I can't even breathe?!"

"Oh," Gon said as he released the other, "sorry."

Killua switched positions with his legs after a long glare, putting them in Gon's lap instead and lying his head on the arm rest on the other side. Gon gave a whine of obvious disappointment, wanting him to be the other way around. He even tried to reach for the other's hair, but it was too far out of reach.

"Killuaaa, I can't even reach you from here!" Gon complained. "Wouldn't you rather be over here with me?"

"Yeah? Well maybe you'll think of that next time you try to suffocate me," Killua retorted. "Feel free to try to suffocate my feet all you want, though."

He accentuated that last statement by wiggling his toes inside his socks. Gon watched them move for that short moment, then decided to take that as an open invitation to play with them.

"Okay!"

The spiky-haired teen took hold of the other's feet and pulled one of the socks off. Killua's eyes shot open when he realized what his friend was attempting to do. He tried to pull his feet back, but it was too late as Gon already had a grip one of his ankles.

"Gon, I swear on all that is holy, no one will ever find your body if you do this. I will personally make sure of that," Killua warned him, flipping over on his stomach to try to twist out of his captor's hold on him. "I. Will. _Kill_. You."

"I'll take my chances," Gon retorted, grinning from ear to ear as he played with the other's toes.

Killua struggled harder when he heard that his threats fell on _stupid_ , rather than deaf, ears. He twisted every which way to break free, but could not get out. The only thing he was accomplishing now was causing a small skin burn to his ankle from the friction of twisting it around in his friend's hand.

Gon tightened his grip, finding it pretty difficult to hold on at this point. He began lightly tickling the sole of Killua's foot with his free hand, laughing softly at all this fuss when they both knew the pale-skinned boy was not even very ticklish in the first place.

"It's not like I'm going to cut it off or anything," Gon commented on his friend's desperation when he began struggling even harder.

To his extreme surprise, Gon heard muffled laughter coming from the other end of the sofa. He couldn't believe his eyes, seeing Killua laughing into the armrest. He was surprised because as far as he knew, Killua had never been ticklish. He would only complain that it felt weird.

 _"But I tried his sides all the time, and that never worked,"_ Gon thought, amused at this new fact.

The amusement was short-lived, however, when Killua's other foot connected with his chin. Gon let go of his friend in shock, grabbing his jaw. He was about to complain about the pain when he was pressed into the couch, being smothered by one of the pillows. For a few seconds he feared Killua might actually kill him right here and now, but was relieved when the 'tool of murder' was removed from his face. He gasped for air and looked up at the other, who was straddling him now, with wide eyes and a disbelieving look.

"Oh please, I know for a fact you can hold your breath longer than that," Killua said, crossing his arms and glaring down at him. "And don't pretend I didn't warn you."

Gon took a few more deep breaths before he began chuckling.

Killua stared down at him, confused about what was suddenly funny. "What?"

Gon just continued to laugh, causing Killua to get frustrated. He didn't understand what was so funny all of a sudden.

"Gon, wha-"

He was cut off when the spiky-haired boy pulled him down into a hug. Killua groaned, thinking that Gon was far too into hugs today. Definitely more so than other days. Maybe that wasn't _all_ bad, though, he supposed.

"You didn't take some drugs from some guy when you ran away from me today, did you?" Killua questioned, only half-joking.

"Nah," Gon replied through the dying laughter, hugging the semi-helpless teen tighter. "I just thought it was funny how you can scare me even though you would never hurt me."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that," Killua mumbled. He reluctantly relaxed into the embrace, propped his head under Gon's chin, rested his cheek on the other's chest and closed his eyes.

"Huh?" Gon questioned, not hearing what his friend said.

"Nothing," Killua answered a little too quickly, but it went unnoticed by the other.

Gon shrugged it off and looked back over at the television, seeing that it had moved on to commercials now. He looked around the room distractedly, at the front door, down at Mike lying on the floor below them, up at the ceiling...

"Stop," Killua broke the silence, clearly annoyed.

"Sorry," Gon said, burying his face in his favorite head of silver hair. "Commercials make me bored."

Killua gave a quiet, disinterested 'hmm' to the other. His eyes shot open and his face turned slightly red when he heard a loud sniff from his friend. He looked up at Gon, mouth hanging open some.

"Did you just..." he trailed off, his voice dripping with disbelief "...sniff my hair?"

"Uh huh!" Gon answered, smiling as if nothing was wrong at all. "It smells really good, just like you."

"You're so weird." Killua hid his face in his arms. "Do you even hear yourself when you talk?"

"I'm pretty sure I can." Gon gave a small hum in thought, tapping his chin with his index finger. "Yeah, for sure. Why?"

 _"I don't think he really understands what I'm talking about,"_ Killua thought, peeling Gon's arms off and rolling over the edge to land on his hands and knees on the floor.

Mike's head and ears raised in surprise when the silver-haired boy landed right next to him.

"Wait, where are you going?" Gon asked the other, who was snatching his sock out from under the spiky-haired teen's back. "What did I do now?"

"Nothing," Killua answered, putting his sock back on and getting up. He gave a long groan as he stretched, a satisfied sigh escaping his lips when he felt his back pop. "I thought Mito might be back soon, so I didn't put up the rest of the food. But it doesn't look like she'll be here for a while, so I'm going to put it away now."

"Oh, alright." Gon crossed his arms over his stomach, still lying on his back on the couch. He didn't want Killua to go, even if it was only for a minute.

Killua placed the lids on all the bowls, wrapped what was left of the roast in tin foil and pushed around the various foods in the fridge to make room for what was to be put in. He stood back and made sure everything was in at least a half decent order, then shut the fridge and looked around the kitchen. He opened drawers and cabinets, moving into the living room and looking around there as well.

"What are you looking for?"

"Candles, lighter, matches or flashlight," Killua answered off-handedly, still giving a slow sweep of the room with his eyes. He spotted the cordless radio on the fireplace, calling it out to the other as he picked it up. "Battery radio."

He tossed it over the back of the couch and heard a resounding thud echo through the room, followed closely by a loud yelp and a soft whine from Mike.

"Killua! That _hurt_!" Gon called from his spot on the sofa, holding his forehead where the radio landed. Mike was trying to lick the spot, but couldn't get through the teen's hands to the bruise.

Killua came around and looked down at the other, hands on his hips with a confused expression. "I thought for sure you would have caught that. Your reflexes can't be _that_ slow."

"I didn't think I had to be on guard from you throwing stuff at me!"

"I guess." Killua bent down, removing his friend's hands, and inspected the bump. "It's not that bad, either way. I'd be more worried if your head wasn't so hollow."

He frowned. "You don't have to be mean about it, you know."

"I'm just kidding," Killua said, laughing a little. "Sort of."

Gon continued to frown, clearly not amused, until Killua gave a small kiss to his forehead. When the other pulled back he smiled then, forgetting about the insults.

"It still hurts a little," Gon said, attempting to get another.

"Oh, really?" Killua asked, standing up straight. "Well, sucks to be you I guess."

"But Killua!"

"The doctor has done all he can do," Killua said, walking away. "I'm afraid you can no longer be saved. Sorry."

Gon gave a low whine and looked over the back of the couch, watching his friend go up the stairs and disappear from sight. Gon couldn't understand what Killua was so worried about. Even if they had light they would have nothing to do with it. If it were up to Gon, they would just huddle together until the storm was over and not move an inch. He plopped back down on the couch and let his arms fall limp, one on his abdomen and the other over the edge. Mike nudged his hand, trying to force the boy to pet him. Gon began petting him softly, staring out the window and thinking about Aunt Mito.

"Hey, I got pretty much everything," Killua said on his way down the stairs with an armful of oversized candles, a box of matches in one hand and a flashlight in the other. When he came around the sofa and placed it all on the small table he noticed Gon inattentively staring out the window, which slightly worried him. "Gon?"

"Huh?" Gon snapped out of his thoughts, looking up at the other. "Sorry, what?"

"What's up? Something on your mind?"

"Oh." He turned his attention back to the window. "I'm just worried about Aunt Mito still. It's not really safe out there right now."

"I'm telling you she's fine, Gon. Heck, she's probably saving someone else right now."

"Yeah, probably," he replied sadly, still not taking his eyes off the window.

Killua hummed, grabbing his friend's arm and giving it a gentle tug. "Come on."

Gon looked up confusedly. "What?"

"Come on," he said, giving another pull. "Come brush your teeth so we don't have to worry about it later, then we'll wait for Mito to come back."

"I thought you said she was fine?" Gon questioned worriedly, causing Killua to sigh.

"She is, I know she is," he retorted as he crouched down in front of the other. "But even if you believe me you're still worried, huh?"

Gon looked away in thought for a moment. When he turned back he nodded to the other.

"Then come on," Killua said. "Brush your teeth and we'll sit by the window beside the door and wait for her. Alright? We'll be able to see her on the sidewalk from there. We'll know the second she's home."

"Good idea!" Gon said as he jumped up and ran to the stairs excitedly.

Killua smiled and followed him, albeit not as enthusiastically. This wouldn't exactly be his idea of fun, but if it made Gon feel better then he would be happy to do it. When he hopped up the stairs and was half down the hall he already heard running water and brushing noises. Entering the bathroom he leaned back against the wall behind the other and watched, knowing that Gon would probably try to go too fast and not do a good job so he could go quicker. When he looked at the cup by the sink that they keep their toothbrushes in he frowned deeply.

"Gon, turn around," he said slowly, staring at the boy in the mirror.

Gon stopped brushing and complied, cocking his head to the side when he faced Killua. "Wha-"

"You're using _my_ brush!" Killua shouted, pointing at him accusingly. "Again!"

"Oh," Gon said as he looked down at the brush in his hand, noticing that this was indeed not his brush after all. Holding it out for the other to take back he hung his head slightly in shame, the toothbrush dripping with toothpaste foam and saliva. "Sorry."

"Just-" Killua stared at the tool, utterly disgusted at the sight right now. He held up a hand and looked away, shutting his eyes so he wouldn't have to see it anymore. He started for the door as he muttered, "-finish brushing."

Gon shrugged and turned back to the sink, continuing to brush. After a few more minutes he rinsed off the brush and put it back in the cup with the other two. He looked around, realizing he didn't have a cup to put water in and rinse with. He leaned forward and turned his head sideways, about to try to catch the running water in his mouth, but was pulled backwards by the back of his hair. Crying out, he looked to the mirror and saw the reflection of the pale-skinned teen holding an empty cup.

"You're not an animal, and this isn't a water fountain," Killua chastised, filling the cup with water and aggressively shoving it back in his face. He turned the water off and reminded his friend, "We have these for a reason."

Gon took the cup, holding the back of his head where Killua had pulled at his hair so harshly, and stuck his tongue out at the reflection of his retreating friend's back in the mirror. He was startled when a pill bottle hit the back of his head. He spun around to see Killua by the open medicine cabinet with one hand on his waist. The other hand brandished another pill bottle that he was tossing up and down, prepared to be thrown at any given moment.

"The medicine cabinet has a mirror. That lets me see the other mirror, which lets me see your face, moron. As much as I would hate to, I will damage that face if you do that again."

Gon looked at the mirror in front of the sink, and could indeed see the medicine cabinet clearly from here. No doubt you could see the reflection of whatever the other mirror was reflecting from there. He really hadn't thought of that.

Taking in some of the water from the cup, he swished it around his mouth for a while before spitting it out. He poured the rest out in the sink and turned around, seeing that the other had disappeared. He exited the bathroom calling his friend's name and looking around. When he trotted down the stairs he found the other lying on his back in front of the window, arms behind his head and one leg crossed over the other. He walked to and sat beside him, staring out of the window in front of them.

"Do you really think she's okay?"

Killua glanced at him and sat up on his elbows. "Gon, I'm telling you she's fine. She's a fighter, there's no way she would let something happen to her when she wants to come home to us still."

"I want to go out and find her," Gon said, his gaze turning stern.

 _"No. No, no and again no. It's one thing when I can't say no to him over stupid things, but this is not happening,"_ Killua thought, sitting up straight and grabbing the other's chin. He forced Gon to look at him and pointed at the window when he said, "Gon, you are not going out there. You wouldn't even know where to find her. In fact, you can never even remember how to get to where she works, which would be the first place to start. Not only that, but by the time you actually get there through all of this," he waved his hand at the window, "she will have probably come back already. Or else you'll just get yourself trapped there with her. Then what will you have accomplished?"

Gon looked down in thought. He knew Killua was probably right, he usually was, but he wanted to go and find her. He looked back out the window when the other moved his hold to his arm. "I guess nothing."

"Exactly, so just wait. If she isn't here an hour after the storm ends, I'll even go out looking with you," Killua told him, still holding on to his arm in a subconscious fear that he would make a run for the door. He thought for a second, then decided to add time when he remember traffic would probably be terrible with everyone trying to get home at once. "Actually, two hours tops. I'll even set a timer or something when it ends, okay?"

Gon looked at him sadly. "Even if it's really late?"

"Even if it's 4 in the morning. So just calm down, okay?"

He seemed satisfied enough by that to be able to quell his urge to go out searching, for now anyway. He looked back out the window, watching the street and sidewalk, unwaivered by everything else around him.

Killua stood up and went towards the stairs to go their room. When he entered he grabbed a blanket off their bed, a couple of pillows and a book he read whenever Gon was busy with something else. He figured this could be a long night, so he might as well make sure they have everything they need. Taking all those objects downstairs and to their spot in front of the window, he tossed both pillows in Gon's lap and the blanket on his head.

Gon peeled the blanket off and look around curiously to see the pillows in his lap, the book that was dropped beside him on the floor, the strewn candles left about and the flashlight that was tossed to his side.

"Killua, what are you doing?"

He pointed to each object as he spoke, "Candles and matches, in case the power goes out. Flashlight, in case something happens to the candles. Book, boredom. Blanket, if you get cold. Pillows, because we might have to sleep down here. Battery radio, so we can know what's happening if the power goes out."

Gon gave a small 'oh' as he looked over each object, picking up the book and giving it a displeased look. "But I don't like reading."

"Who ever said it was for you?" Killua questioned, snatching the book out of his hands and taking a pillow from his lap.

Mike strolled by and took the other pillow as Gon watched the other settling down, trotting off and setting it down beside the front door. He curled up on it and lied his head down, waiting for the final member of the house to return.

Gon reached down and swiped at air as he tried to grab his own pillow, then looked at his lap when he felt nothing there. He looked around the room, confused, and spotted Mike on it. He pointed at the dog as he whined to the other, "Killua, Mike took mine!"

Killua was lying on his back on the floor, head on his pillow and holding the open book in front of his face in the air. He moved the book and tilted his head down slightly, spotting his dog sleeping on Gon's pillow by the door. "Huh. Yep, he sure did."

Gon frowned at the other teen, who had already moved his book back in place and continued reading as if this situation was no big deal at all. He returned to staring out the window, a bit miffed at losing the pillow he was going to use as a cushion to sit on. After a while the hard floor began taking a toll on his hind, causing pain from sitting there for so long. The discomfort must have been somewhat obvious in some way, because his vision was taken over by the sight of a pillow that was shoved in front of his face.

"Here," Killua said, holding the cushion out with one arm and holding his book open as he continued to read with the other.

Gon took it and stared at it a moment, then looked back at the other. "But now you don't have anything to put your head on."

Killua shrugged, still not looking away from the piece of literature. "Oh well."

The spiky-haired boy smiled as he thought of something. After putting the cushion under himself he called the other's name to get his attention and held his arms out as if wanting a hug, smiling brightly at him. "Come here."

Killua stared at him skeptically, slowly turning back to his book as he murmured, "Yeaaah..no."

"Come on!" Gon patted one of his legs as an invitation for the other to come over. "You need something to lie on, and I want to hold you. So this way we can both get what we want!"

Killua brought the book closer to his face to try to hide the very light blush he got when the other talked about holding him. "I'm fine, really."

"But..." Gon tried to think of something, anything to get him to come over. He didn't want his companion to be uncomfortable over there. "Your head must still hurt from today, you don't want to keep it on that hard floor do you? I'll even give you a kiss if you come over!"

Killua pressed his face further into his book at hearing that last compromise. "My head is fine!"

"Well if you won't come over here, I'll come over there," Gon told him as a final warning, pouting at the other.

He looked up from his book, thinking about the situation for a moment and deciding there was no way out of this. It wasn't that he didn't like the affection, it was just that if he didn't initiate it himself it felt kind of weird to receive. Though his partner loved the affection, and Killua wasn't exactly common in initiating things, so he was often some what forced into it by the other.

With a small sigh he closed his book, leaving a finger between the pages to not lose his place, and crawled on all fours the short distance to the other teen. He stopped in front of him, pushed his legs open and sat between them with his back against him. Lying his head back on the other's shoulder, he bent his knees up some like Gon had his own and opened his book back up as the spiky-haired teen wrapped his arms around his shoulders.

"There, happy?" Killua asked a bit scornfully, even though he was far more comfortable and content now.

Gon smiled and nuzzled the other's hair with his cheek lovingly. "Yeah."

Killua turned his head upwards when Gon poked him lightly, assuming the boy wanted his attention. When he looked up he didn't even have time to react as foreign lips pressed down on his without warning. His eyes widened briefly at the unexpected action, but settled into it shortly and closed his eyes slowly. It didn't last too long, but when the other pulled back Killua's mouth was left hanging just barely open. He opened his eyes and looked at Gon's smiling face questioningly.

"What was that for?"

"I said I'd give you a kiss if you came over, didn't I?"

The pale-skinned teen stared at him a moment longer, then returned to his book mumbling something about never thinking anything through.

Gon hugged him closer and rested his cheek on top of the head of silver hair, turning his gaze back to the window and watching the outside intently. After a long while of waiting he noticed the storm had actually began to calm rather rapidly. He just realized he hadn't even heard thunder in quite some time, being entirely focused on watching for his Aunt's car to pull up or for her to walk up to the house, and the lightning decreased drastically. He cheered up some at knowing that the storm was finally beginning to end, and hoped that Aunt Mito would be on the way already.

Another hour and a half passed with the only sounds being the whisper of lightning cracking in the far distance, light drops of rain still pelting against the roof and window, and Killua flipping pages every so often. Gon's eyes began drooping and he let out a small yawn.

Killua wanted to inform him that in thirty more minutes he would allow the other to go out searching, reluctantly, but after hearing his yawn thought that maybe he could get the other to just go to sleep. He was sure that by the time they woke up in the morning that Mito would be home. That thought was cancelled, however, when the sound of a car pulling up and both Gon and Mike's heads perked up. He huffed in annoyance as he had got to an important climax in the story of the book he was reading, but now the moment was ruined and he felt there was no point in continuing. Snapping his book shut, he decided he would just re-read the last couple of pages and build back up to that moment next time he got a chance to read.

He could practically feel the other bouncing in place with joy as they both saw the woman rushing up to the door through the rain, trying not to get too soaked. When the sound of a key turning the lock resounded through the room Mike began barking wildly. When she entered the home Mike almost immediately jumped up on his hind legs repeatedly to greet her.

"No! Down Mike!" she shouted at him, pointing at the ground. She scanned the room and saw her two boys huddled together on the floor the same way they had been for hours, letting out a breath of relief at knowing that they were alright and not even questioning their extremely close proximity. "Are you both okay? Did you get home alright?"

Gon nodded happily, beaming at her, and Killua waved lazily as he answered, "Nothing we couldn't handle."

"Where's Palm?"

"There was some kind of family emergency and she had to go. Must have been pretty bad if she willingly went out in that storm," Killua answered before Gon could tell a terrible lie and screw it all up.

"Oh, I hope everything is alright," she said, taking her coat off and hanging it on the hook by the door. "How was your day?"

"It was a really-"

"- _eventful_ day," Killua interrupted the teen holding him, not wanting to worry Mito with all the things that went wrong today. "But we made the best of it, right Gon?"

"Yeah, like-"

"Having gym today, no tests or anything, so on so forth," Killua interrupted once more, causing Mito to become suspicious.

"Killua, are you trying to hide something from me?" she questioned, crossing her arms and staring him down and causing Killua to squirm in Gon's arms nervously.

He averted his gaze to the side, knowing if he looked directly in her eyes that she would call him out on any lie he told. "No, ma'am."

"Then let Gon finish," she said, moving her gaze to him. "What else happened today?"

"Well..Killua hurt his hand and his head and had to go to the nurse, and we forgot his skateboard at school, we missed the bus and couldn't call you. Killua got mad because you couldn't answer and threw stuff, we visited Kurapika and he gave us an umbrella so we could go home. Palm was already making dinner when we got here, we saved you some by the way, then we waited by the door for you to come home after we ate and Palm left because I was really worried that something happened to you." He paused, looking up and placing a finger on his chin in thought. "I think that's it."

Mito stared blankly at them for a while after hearing the story, Gon still in thought and Killua braced for some type of outburst over everything that she was told. He was surprised when she rolled her eyes and began walking to the kitchen, presumably to get the food that was saved for her.

"You boys, still getting in as much trouble as ever," she mumbled as she went. "Well go get ready for bed, it's already late. I'll clean up all that stuff on the floor."

"Oh! Killua and I kissed, too!" Gon shouted out to her, beaming. "A few times actually. I knew I was forgetting something."

The kitchen went dead silent, where Mito previously broke that silence by retrieving her food from the fridge, and Killua's face came crashing down into his hands. He thought they were in the clear, he believed Gon was smart enough to exclude that part when he didn't say anything about it. He didn't know how Mito was going to react to this, and did not want to take the risk of finding out anytime soon at all.

Though it was also pretty embarrassing to have something like that just thrown out into the open for anyone to hear.

They heard the sounds begin in the kitchen once more and saw Mito emerge when the sound of the microwave being activated resounded through area. She sat down in the middle of the sofa and patted the two spots on either side, signaling for the two to come and sit beside her. Gon released the other and they went to sit on either side of her. Killua was hanging his head dejectedly and Gon was searching her face curiously.

"I'm a little shocked, but I can't say I'm too surprised," she began. "We aren't talking about a simple kiss on the cheek, huh?"

"Nope," Gon answered, shaking his head. "How come?"

Killua sat rigidly, afraid of what was going to come out of this conversation. Was she going to separate them now? Make them live in separate rooms? Say they couldn't sleep together anymore? Or worst of all, get rid of him as she did not approve of a relationship between the pair?

"Well I don't have any problem with it, but you two are going to have to make a few compromises."

 _"Here it comes,"_ Killua thought, hiding his depressed facial expression behind his hair. _"The changes..."_

"Like what?" Gon questioned, furrowing his brows.

"You can still sleep together, but no fooling around as long as you're under my roof. Period. If you want to stay out longer than curfew for a date you have to ask first, and you have to promise to not let other people put you down for being together."

Killua looked up, shocked and surprised at the easy acceptance. When he turned his gaze towards her he saw her looking at him more specifically. "Y-yeah, of course. I wouldn't let other people take me away from him or stay out that late anyway, and I..don't think we're ready for _that_ yet."

She looked over at Gon, who nodded eagerly in agreement with a bright smile, and patted them both on one leg each. "Alright, you two enjoy each other then. But go to bed for the night, it's already past eleven."

They stood up simultaneously and Gon went to the stairs, heading towards their room. Killua went over by the window to get the pillow and blanket, making sure to grab the pillow Mike took to the door as well, and pulled his book under an arm. When he had all that gathered up he made his way to the stairs, but froze for a moment at the sound of Mito's voice before continuing on his way to his room.

"Be sure to take care of him. You know how difficult he can be."

"Yeah, but I'm willing to put up with him. I won't let anything happen to him as long as I can help it," he replied on his way up the steps. _"I'm stuck with him, after all, and I wouldn't have it any other way."_

He heard rummaging coming from their room on his way down the hall, and entered seeing Gon halfway under the bed. Coming around the bed he softly poked the other's butt with his foot, causing the boy to jump and hit his head on the underside of the bed with a loud thud.

Gon quickly crawled out from under the bed, rubbing the top of his head where he hit it, and looked up while sitting on his knees.

"Ah! There they are!" he exclaimed, pointing at the bed accessories in Killua's arms. "I couldn't find them. Guess I forgot we took them downstairs."

"You're hopeless, you know that?" Killua retorted, walking around him and dropping everything on their bed.

The spiky-haired teen stuck out the tip of his tongue, standing up and watching Killua place the pillows at the head of the bed. They changed into their sleep clothes and got in bed, Killua plopping down face first into his pillow and not even bothering to pull the cover over himself. Gon reached over to the nightstand by the edge of the bed and set the alarm on their clock.

"It's almost midnight, Killua.

Killua rolled his head to the side slightly to glance at the other, though it turned out as more of a glare than a glance. "So what? I already said I don't care about tomorrow."

"Well I do," Gon retorted, scooting close to him and pulling the cover up to their shoulders. "I want tomorrow to be special!"

"You don't have to do anything about it..it really isn't that important..."

"But I want toooo!" Gon whined loudly, kicking his legs vigorously in a childish manner.

"Alright, alright!" Killua said, grabbing the other's shoulders to try to get him to stop. "Fine! Jeez, just shut up and you can do whatever. I don't care."

Gon smiled and snuggled up to his bed partner, nuzzling his nose into the crook of Killua's neck. "Cool! But I'll have to go to the store. Maybe Aunt Mito will let us skip school tomorrow."

Killua lowered his chin down into the other's hair. "I doubt it."

"If we ask nicely she might! I think we should try."

Killua sighed lightly, knowing this was the 'before bed banter' that he was always forced into. Every. Single. Night. "If you want, but I'm telling you she probably won't go for it."

"I'm going to ask her in the morning," Gon said, seemingly not even hearing the other's subtle protests. He pulled back and smiled at his companion. "I'll beg her if I have to."

Killua stared back at him for a moment, then turned his head away. "Whatever."

Still feeling Gon's eyes on him, he pulled the cover over his head to try to hide from the gaze. He hated being stared at for so long. He internally sighed when he felt the covers shifting, knowing that the other was following him under no doubt.

"Just go to sleep, Gon."

"Stay up with me, Killua!"

Killua growled lightly at him. He narrowed his eyes and commanded, "Stay outside the cover, I'll stay inside, that way you don't get tempted to talk to me." He really didn't have the patience for this tonight. He closed his eyes and waited for the other to leave his hiding place.

"But I don't want you out of my sight, Killua..."

His eyes snapped open and he stared at seemingly nothing for a moment, letting what he just heard sink in, then focused his gaze on the other.

"...I always want you to be the last thing I see before I fall asleep. No matter what," Gon explained, slightly sleepily, as he rested his hand on Killua's cheek.

"Wh-what are you talking about, idiot?" Killua questioned, feeling a strong sense of déjà vu for some reason.

"I don't know. I just really like when we hang out, and being around you. I like it when you're the last thing I see before I fall asleep because you're so beautiful!" Gon said, touching their foreheads together. "Especially your face."

Killua was, to say the least, completely and utterly flustered. This definitely didn't happen in the night he remembered. _"Wasn't he supposed to say he liked my hair or something?"_

"G-Gon, stop being s-so embarrassing..."

"But I'm just telling you the truth," Gon said as he ghosted his lips over Killua's. He could feel the other's lips just barely as his own moved when he spoke, "Because I love you, Killua. I really do."

Killua was about to speak when the alarm going off interrupted his train of thought, signaling that it was now midnight.

* * *

_**Age 16** _

"I'm really glad I found you and Aunt Mito brought you with us. Happy birthday, Killua," Gon whispered, closing his eyes and getting rid of the near-nonexistent distance between their mouths.

 _"I bet I'm more glad than you are about it, Gon,"_ Killua thought, closing his eyes slowly and kissing Gon back.

_"I love you, too."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all have enjoyed this ride with me, and will join me on many more.
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> Don't feel obligated to give a good comment, I accept good and bad alike, so don't hold back. Though I prefer any comment to none at all. Constructive criticism is very much welcomed.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


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